I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring-- which is probably the most terrible noise known to mankind and the worst way to wake up-- and rolled over, groaning and pulling my pillow over my head in an attempt at smothering the noise.

It wasn't just that I'm not a morning person at all, I didn't want to get out of bed and acknowledge the fact that I was going to have to get up and force myself through another merdoso day. Eventually, after several minutes of persistent blaring, I sat up, my head still fuzzy from sleep, and forced myself to get up and walk over to where my alarm was perched on my dresser, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I hit the button clumsily and blundered out of my room and across the hall to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. I flipped the lights on, blinking against the brightness and then turned the shower on to let the water heat up while I stripped off my clothes, and then stepped in.

I quickly washed my hair and scrubbed my body and then stood under the water, feeling it batter against my back and streak down my bare skin as I mentally prepared myself for another twenty-four hours. I tipped my head up and counted through all of the good things in my life, I found that it helped me to remember that I have things pretty good, that my life is actually worth living.

I always started with the same seven:

1. I have a roof over my head.

2. I have a stepmom who cares about me.

3. I have enough food to eat.

4. I have a bed to sleep in.

5. I have clothes on my back.

6. I have an education.

7. I have been exposed to good music.

After that, it got a bit more difficult. I ran my hands through my hair, pushing water out of it and feeling it splatter onto my skin as I racked my brain for another positive aspect of my bland existence.

8. I have survived this far.

9. My family is in good financial shape.

10. I made a friend yesterday.

That was probably the best thing in my life right now, it was actually the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. I was instantly grateful that Marie had made me go across the street to deliver the pie instead of Hazel. I rolled my eyes, imagining her instantly starting to flirt with Will.

My thoughts were interrupted by my step sister banging on the bathroom door, yelling at me to get out. Speak of the devil. I thought, shutting off the water and stepping out. There's a shower downstairs too, but if you have them running at the same time there's barely a trickle of water so it's pretty pointless to have two. I quickly dried off and then wrapped my towel around my waist, scooping my discarded pajama bottoms and boxers off the floor before I opened the door.

"Took you long enough." Hazel sniffed, pushing past me. She wasn't exactly the warmest person.

I ignored her and walked across the hall to my room where I slipped on black skinny jeans and a black skull t-shirt that was so faded the image was merely a ghostly shadow across my chest.

After that, I went downstairs and ate a fast breakfast before heading to the entryway to slip on my shoes and battered, fraying jacket, and grab my backpack. I opened the door and headed out, gripping the straps of my pack tightly and jogging down the steps and out to the sidewalk to begin my daily trudge to school.

"Neeks!" I heard behind me, I froze and turned around, Will was running towards me, grinning.

"Hey." I greeted, offering him a half-hearted smile.

"My mom probably won't be up for a while, I was wondering if I could walk with you to school."

My heart dropped, that's what I'd been fearing. They were almost always waiting for me on the way to school, either to trail behind me with taunts and insults or to give me a quick warm-up beating. I couldn't let Will see that, it would be humiliating. My mind started going 50 miles an hour, trying to formulate an excuse. I opened and closed my mouth and Will's smile faltered fractionally for the slightest moment. Merda.

"You don't have to," he assured me, shrugging, he didn't look put out at all, but I was pretty sure he was acting.

"No, I-I just. . ." I struggled for words, feeling absolutely terrible. I was almost ready to just let him come and deal with the consequences.

He laughed it off, "Nico, it's fine. I'm sure you have a good reason."

I nodded, "Thanks. I would, I swear, it's just--"

"I'll see you after school?" he asked casually, cutting me off.

My mouth opened slightly without any words coming out, and then I nodded. Will smiled at me before turning and jogging back to his house without a backward glance.

I watched him for a second before shaking off my guilt and continuing my march in the direction of the school. I started casting paranoid glances around me, looking for signs that Percy and his gang were sneaking up behind me or hiding around the next corner.

This all started when we'd moved in about four years ago, two years after the fire, which was pretty much when my life had become a living Hell. About a month after our house had burned to the ground we'd moved to the United States. My father hadn't wanted to be in Italy anymore, where there were so many memories and so much pain. He'd wanted to start over. I'd already been taking English classes so it wasn't that hard for me to pick up the new language, plus I had no friends, no home, no reason to want to stay, basically, so I didn't object.

Once we were here, my dad and I lived for a little over a year in a tiny apartment that barely met health regulations. During that time, my dad was always in and out of jobs and we were always scrounging for money. He was almost never home, whether it was because he was working, applying for a job, or drinking. I, on the other hand, was almost always home, I didn't want to talk to people or go places, so I didn't. Basically, nothing has really changed about that, he's still always away and I'm always sitting in my bedroom, not that I mind.

Then, my dad met Marie. I hated her at first, I didn't see how my dad could move on from my mom if he had ever really loved her, but one day, Marie sat me down and explained that she would never try to replace my mom. She'd told me that she didn't even expect my dad to ever love her as much as he'd loved Maria, (the similarities in their names still freaks me out) but she loved him, so that didn't really matter much to her. After that I started realizing that my dad seemed happier, he even smiled when Marie was in the room; so I stopped being a selfish brat and I got to know her better. Eventually, I met Hazel too, she never liked me or my dad, not that I minded, she's not exactly the type of person I'd want to become friends with anyway.

After a while my dad got a job that paid well and he proposed to Marie on the day of their one-year anniversary, she said yes, obviously, and they had a modest wedding shortly after that. All in all, that hadn't been the worst year of my life. I still didn't have any friends, but like I said, I didn't want any, and I cried myself to sleep every night because I missed my mom and sister, but my dad was happy and so that made everything bearable.Everything was great. . . until we moved into our new house.

I guess I brought the bullying on myself, which is part of the reason I never told anyone about what went on. It hadn't started out as bullying, actually, they'd just been trying to talk to me, but I had refused to say anything back. It was mostly because I didn't know what to say, I hadn't really talked to anyone I hadn't lived with since the fire, and I'd wanted to keep it that way. Apparently it had come off as me being some stuck up kid who thought I was too good for everyone else; as you can imagine, they didn't take that very well, and in an attempt to regain their dignity, they had started picking on me.

They took every opportunity possible to humiliate me, especially when people were around to see it. It had mostly just been verbal in the beginning, the names they'd called me just kept getting worse and worse as the days went by, every time it seemed I was getting used to one onslaught of insults, they'd come up with an entire army of new ones. It was exhausting.

The tormenting had become physical not long after that, I wasn't sure what switch had suddenly flipped but one day they had me cornered, taking turns mocking me and spitting at my face, then suddenly Percy had lashed out and kicked me in the gut and as always, the rest of them had followed his lead.

A stick snapped under my foot, pulling me back into the present, and my head jerked up. I glanced around apprehensively again and clutched the straps of my backpack tighter, fear cutting through me. I couldn't let my guard down. Don't think too much, can't think too much. Don't get anxious, can't get anxious. I'm okay. I can be okay. The words raced through my head again and again, tumbling over one another until they became one frantic, rambling swirl of emotion and letters, pulsing in time with the hysterical beating of my heart. They were basically my life motto, I even had them scrawled in barely intelligible writing on the wall above my bed, over and over, like a madman's ramblings. Writing my thoughts is calming, I guess.

I took in deep breaths and pushed them back out slowly, I'm okay. I can be okay. I turned the corner, scanning the road before me and the peering over my shoulder briefly. Don't get anxious, can't get anxious. My heartbeat thrummed through my chest and echoed through the rest of my body. The school was in view now. Don't think too much, can't think too much.

It didn't comfort me that they hadn't attacked yet, it just meant that today they wanted a spectacle, people were going to see and I was going to be laughed at. No one would help, and the few people who felt sorry for me would be too afraid of the consequences to do anything about it. I set my jaw, I've been through this, at least a hundred times, one more beating won't change anything. I'm fine.

I lifted my chin up, trying to calm my breathing, determined to walk into that school with as much dignity as I possibly could. I approached the crosswalk, plastering a fairly convincing fake smile onto my face and wishing the crossing guards a good morning as I walked across the thick white lines.

The smile dropped off my features as soon as I stepped onto the grass, immediately replaced with a deadpan look that I had practiced into perfection over the years to hide what I was really feeling. It was funny how much of the emotion I showed was just an act.

I walked into the school, ignoring everyone as I made my way to my locker. I slung my backpack off my shoulder as I reached it, dropping it to the floor and kicking it up against the lockers. I slammed my fist against the thin metal door, listening closely. It didn't sound like there was anything in there, waiting to erupt from inside and bombard me, so I turned my combination into the lock and then cracked it open it slowly, peeking inside, just for extra measure, and then slammed the door open against the next locker. This daily routine used to earn me a lot of weird looks, snickers, and people jumping at the loud banging, but now everyone just kind of accepted it.

I bent down, pulling out everything I didn't need for first period, and dumping it in my locker before I slammed it closed again, turned the lock a couple of times and then turned around, slipping my backpack over my shoulders. Jason Grace was leaning against the wall across the hall with a cruel smile plastered over his face. My stomach clunked against the floor and my face paled slightly, I gave him my best death glare and he just laughed, pushing himself off the bricks and disappearing into the flood of students.

I shook my head, Don't let him get to you.

I made my way to my first period and pretended to take notes that were really just doodles as the teacher rambled on about Ancient Greek gods. Why we needed to know that Zeus couldn't keep it in his pants was a mystery to me, but I'd ace the test anyways, my brain absorbed information like a sponge without me even trying.

I spent the rest of the day like this, I didn't see Percy and his cronies the whole time, not even during lunch, which I spent alone at my own personal table right next to the garbage cans. I knew they were playing on my emotions, trying to make me worry through the whole day, and it was working.

I shot out of my seat as soon as the bell rang at the end of the day and made a beeline to my locker. Once there, I threw the door open without even checking it first and shoved everything into my backpack as fast as I could. If I could just get out before they found me I could have one school day completely free of fresh bruises.

I pushed past people to get to the doors, not paying any heed to their dirty looks and snarled insults. I stopped dead in my tracks when I got outside, groaning. I should never have gotten my hopes up.

"Aw, that's cute." Octavian crooned, "He thought we'd let him get away."

A bunch of kids stopped walking and turned to watch, knowing what was about to happen. I felt my face grow hot, both in embarrassment and in rage as I took in the four boys that hadn't left me alone once in the past two years.

Percy Jackson was their unrivaled leader, with his windblown black hair, tan skin, and sea green eyes sliced that right through you. Then there was his right-hand man, Jason Grace, who was blonde with stormy blue eyes and a scar on his lip that looked like he'd won it in a fight. Octavian was probably third down on the food chain, he was the schemer of the group, always coming up with new ways to make me look like an idiot. His head was so far up Jackson's culo that he should have just performed a prostate exam on the guy while he was up there brown nosing. At the bottom of the pack was Frank Zhang, he wasn't the kind of guy you would expect to hang around those three. He only ever kicked me or called me names when Jackson or Grace gave him Inferno about it, which was surprising considering he's the size of a semi truck.

I suddenly realized Jason was saying something and I snapped back into reality, "--you dumbass!"

I stared at him blankly for a second before deciding on just glaring to let him know that I didn't appreciate being called such a profanity.

"He asked you a question." Jason snarled, "Answer."

I groaned inwardly, Great time to zone out, di Angelo. I thought sarcastically. "Um. . ." I said lamely, "Yeah, I totally agree. I should definitely go right now." I turned to the right, starting to walk off.

"Did to hear that, guys?" Percy exclaimed, "He thinks it's a good idea to go for a little swim."

"Fanculo." I cursed under my breath, freezing and staring at them like a deer in the headlights as they advanced on me with cruel smiles plastered to their faces, Frank shuffled along behind them, looking uncomfortable.

I glanced from side to side, but there were kids on both sides, snickering at me and whispering to each other. I barely had time to throw my backpack off, hoping no one would do anything to it, before they were upon me. Jason grabbed my left arm, Percy grabbed my right, and Octavian and Frank held the doors for them, a wicked smile plastered to the blonde's face and an apologetic grimace to the Canadian's. The kids who had been gathered around before followed after them like some screwed up procession as they dragged me down the halls while I struggled feebly, eager to see me dumped into the school's swimming pool.

They pulled me through the doors and over to the water's edge, and the assembled crowd laughed and jeered them on.

"I hope you drown and go straight back to Hell where you belong." Percy sneered into my ear, and then the two boys shoved me roughly over the edge.

I hit the water, my breath rushing up from my mouth in a burst of bubbles. I floundered for a moment before righting myself and swum upwards, my head breaking surface of the water. I took in a desperate gasp of air, treading the water frantically, my heavy clothes dragging me down.

The crowd was raving, laughing and mocking me. I swam towards the edge of the pool and grasped the edge, trying to drag myself out, but my head was met with Octavian's dirty shoe. My chin knocked against the edge, my fingers slipping off painfully as I plunged back into the water. I came up, gasping again.

"What's wrong?" Percy called, "Can't get out of the pool?"

The crowd erupted into laughter and Jason clapped him on the back. I was close to tears, the water was turning pink around me from my split chin. I turned around, swimming frantically towards the other side of the pool. By the time I got there, Jason was already waiting for me, I stopped, treading water again and glaring up at him.

"Come on." He said in a sickly-sweet voice, "Get out. Don't just stay in there looking like a drowned rat."

I stared up at him, breathing hard, I knew exactly what would happen if I tried, but I didn't have much choice. I gritted my teeth and swam slowly towards the wall, closing my fingers around the top and hauling my body up. I felt his foot connect with my already throbbing chin and I fell back in, gasping in pain and swallowing a mouthful of water into my lungs.

I came up again, sputtering and coughing up the water painfully. I looked around wildly, my breathing ragged, and stared up at Jason, who was smiling like my panic humored him, which it probably did.

"Come on, try again." he urged.

I glowered up at him, "No." I said, barely loud enough for him to hear, hating the way my voice trembled slightly.

The smile slipped right off of his face, his expression clouding over and lightning crackling in his eyes. "What did you say?" he said, dangerously slow.

"No," I replied, louder this time, more confident.

He immediately erupted into movement, lunging forward and gripping me by the collar of my shirt. He yanked me up onto the tiles, my knees, elbows, ribs, anything that could possibly hit the ledge, did.

Once I was drawn up to my full height he let me clatter to the floor, my knees connecting painfully with the tile and my hands slipping on the wet surface. I curled into a ball on the floor, covering my face as his foot connected with my back over and over. Soon enough, two other pairs of shoes joined him, the laughter didn't stop. The only thoughts pulsing through my head were how much it hurt and how cruel people could be.

After a couple of minutes, Percy spat on me, calling me worthless and pathetic, two things I was already aware of, before they left, taking the crowd with them.

I just laid there, shaking on the floor, and turned onto my back, my eyes tightly closed. I found myself unable to keep the tears from sliding down my cheeks.

Pathetic. Weak. Ugly. Scrawny. Useless--

"No," I whispered, the words coming out choked and barely recognizable.

Hauling myself to a sitting position, I buried my face in my hands, my body shaking with strangled sobs. After a few minutes, I started taking slow, even breaths, trying to stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. As soon as I had myself under control again I pushed myself to my feet, my legs shaking.

"It's nothing I haven't been through before," I told myself, touching my fingers to the cut on my chin, wincing slightly. I looked down at them, the tips were coated in vivid crimson. I sighed, trying to act like it was no big deal, trying to make myself believe it, I turned to start towards the locker room. I hadn't thought it was that bad. Each step was painful, making the bruises, old and new, ache and flare with pain each time my foot pressed to the ground.

I walked up to the sink, examining my face in the mirror. Blood was dripping from my chin and down my neck, and a bruise was already forming over my left eyebrow where Octavian had kicked me. I pulled paper towels out of the dispenser and put them under the water, then started cleaning the blood off of my face and neck, grimacing as I dabbed it over the bruised flesh of my chin.

Once I was done I grabbed another towel and pressed it to the cut to stop the bleeding and made my way out of the locker room and down the halls, my sneakers squeaking loudly on the floor and my dripping clothes leaving puddles in my wake. The school was empty save for the thousand-year-old janitor who barely glanced at me as he moved past with the push-broom.

Once outside, I looked around for my discarded backpack and eventually spotted it hanging up in the far branches of a large pine tree.

"Of course," I muttered, walking up to it, "because it would just be too easy to leave it alone."

I walked around the trunk, looking for the lowest branch, once I found it, I stuffed the paper towel into my pocket and then pulled myself onto it. The bark bit into my palms and the needles poked into my flesh as I got higher and it became harder to avoid them. I pushed my backpack off the branch when I reached it, watching it plummet to the ground, and then climbed down after it. I slung the pack over my shoulders and began trudging my way home, pressing the towel to my chin again.

It felt like all of my energy had been sucked out and it took all of my effort to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I walked with my shoulders hunched and my eyes cast down, determined not to start crying again. It's just a couple of bruises and a cut. Nothing I can't deal with.

That much was true. The thing was, if I had acquired the same inquiries by falling down like I was going to have to tell my mom, it wouldn't be such a big deal. It was the fact that for some reason, those boys felt like I deserved this, all of those people who were watching felt like I deserved this, and I couldn't see why they would think that if it wasn't true. I kept telling myself that they were just being jerks, that I was just an easy outlet for their anger, that all of the insults they yelled at me weren't actually true, but I couldn't see why they would do this to me for no real reason. I couldn't see why they would call me those things if they weren't at least partially true. And that hurt.

It hurt the most when they left anonymous notes on my desk or in my locker and I wasn't sure exactly who had written it. The handwriting was always different, so it could have been anyone in the entire school, and if I couldn't put a face to the words, I couldn't put a voice to them either. That meant that I didn't hear their voice telling me all of those things, I heard my own, and that just made it that much more believable.

I shook my head vigorously. I'm sinking. I can't sink. I can't think too much. Just let it go. I'm fine. I'm alive. Everything will get better eventually. I can't sink. I can't sink. I can't sink. I repeated the three words over and over in my head, walking in time to their beat, making my breathing slow and even until I reached the corner of my street.

I stopped, pushing the bloodied towel into my pocket, I spat onto my hand, trying my best to clean up the remaining blood on my face. It wasn't the most sanitary method, but I had to make sure it didn't look too bad in case my mom saw it, I'd deal with cleaning it with soap later. Once I was satisfied that the wound looked fairly clean I looked down at my still-soaked clothes and sighed, there wasn't any way to hide that, I'd just have to tell Marie that I fell into the pool. I forced myself to straighten out my shoulders and put on a small, fake smile, and then I made the turn, putting a confidence into my step that I didn't feel.

My shoes squelched uncomfortably under my feet as I approached my driveway. I rolled my eyes, I'd have put them over the vent in my room, it'd stink up my whole sanctuary if I didn't open the window, and I almost never opened the window.

I heard footsteps racing towards me and my heart stopped beating. Oh, Dio. No. Not again. Not here. I turned my head towards the sound and my shoulders immediately slumped with relief, I'd completely forgotten about my new neighbor after the traumatizing ordeal.

"Nico!" Will beamed, and then his eyes landed on my face and he stopped in his tracks, concern written all over his face. Apparently it looked more severe than I had thought. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" He covered the remaining distance between us quickly, "No, never mind, you're obviously not okay. That was a stupid question." He reached his hand out to my chin, but I took a step back, blushing.

"Will, I'm fine, It's just a little cut and some minor bruises. Nothing I can't handle." I told him, echoing my thoughts from earlier.

He frowned, not buying it. "Those don't look minor to me." His gaze swept down my form, "And you're all wet!"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, I noticed."

"Nico, who did this to you?"

I almost flinched, "No one. I fell into the shallow end of the pool."

His gaze remained suspicious, "What were you doing at a pool?"

I rolled my eyes at him again, "The school's pool. I was cutting through there on my way out and I slipped on the wet tile." I rolled the lies off easily, making things up as I went.

He sighed, "Fine. But if I find out you're lying and there's someone picking on you, I'm going to kick your butt and then their's." He promised, pointing at me and then some phantom version of Percy, Jason, Octavian, and Frank.

I forced a laugh, "Okay, whatever floats your boat, Solace. I'm gonna go and change out of these clothes."

He nodded reluctantly, "Okay, see ya."

"Bye, Will." I gave him a small smile before running up my drive and into the house.

I didn't announce my arrival, not wanting to go through that twice, and headed up to the bathroom to wash my face properly before heading into my room.

As soon as the door shut behind me, my entire facade crumbled, Mrs. O'Leary jumped off the bed, padding over to me and licking my hand with a concerned whimper. I ruffled her ears, smiling weakly at her and then stepped around her bulky form.

I wanted to flop onto my bed and just succumb to the comforting darkness of sleep, but I forced myself to change first. I stripped off my water-clogged Vans and propped them over the air vent, then opened the window, leaving the curtains drawn until I had stripped off my wet clothes and put on different ones.

I turned to my bed and collapsed onto it, curling into a ball and closing my eyes. I was completely exhausted, but I just couldn't get to sleep. My brain was replaying the words of my peers over and over, reliving the humiliation and terror. Eventually, I pulled myself out of bed, needing something to occupy my mind.

I ran a hand through my damp hair, making it stick up at odd angles. "I need to get out of here." I muttered, crossing the room to my dresser. I pulled out a drawer, grabbed my bathing suit, and quickly changed into the black swim tee and shorts and then slipped on my shoes. I dropped down next to my backpack and dumped all of my school stuff out, then replaced it with my art supplies and a Frisbee.

I ran downstairs, grabbing a towel on the way. Mrs. O'Leary followed behind me, panting excitedly as I filled my backpack with miscellaneous junk food and then headed out. She shook out her fur as we stepped out the door and I stopped, looking across the street and remembering my words from last night, There's this lake. . . we should go together sometime.

I bit my lip and looked down at Mrs. O'Leary, "What do you think, should we invite him?"

She looked up at me with her huge brown eyes, giving me a lazy dog grin.

"Gee, you're a lot of help." I muttered, laughing at myself. I started walking across the street, it would be easier to keep my mind off things if I had someone to talk to, plus, I liked Will.

I jogged up the steps and rang the doorbell, rocking back and forth on my heels as I waited. After a little bit the door opened to reveal a man who was basically an older version of Will. He grinned broadly, slight smile lines appearing around his eyes. "You must be Nico! Are you looking for Will?"

I nodded, pulling on the straps of my backpack. "I was wondering if he wanted to go swimming with me," I told him, forcing my eyes not to drop to the floor.

He turned to face inside of the house, "Will!" he called, "Come down here!"

Will's tattered blue Converse and long tan legs appeared at the top of the stairs and then clattered their way down. A goofy smile lit his face, and a second later he was standing next to his dad in the doorway, brushing rogue strands of hair from his eyes.

His smile got even bigger as soon as he saw me, which shouldn't have been physically possible. "Neeks!" He greeted, leaning against the door frame, "What's up?"

I shifted awkwardly, a blush rising in my cheeks. "I was going to head to the lake, I was wondering if you'd want to come?"

"Yeah, of course!" He said, his eyes brightening. He sounded so genuinely happy that I had thought to ask that I found myself giving him a small, real smile in return. It felt great. He turned to his dad, "Can I?"

He nodded, smiling at me again, "Yes, but you--"

"Have to be back before dinner." Will finished for him, grinning. "Yeah, I know."

He rolled his blue eyes at his son, "Go get your bathing suit on."

Will laughed again, turning and running up the stairs to where his room was, apparently.

"You can come inside for a minute." Mr. Solace said, opening the door wider.

"Thanks," I said, flashing a slight smile at him and slipping my backpack off as I walked inside.

He nodded, pulling the door closed and walking towards the hallway. "You can have a seat on the couch if you want, make yourself right at home."

I nodded, making my way towards the beige sofa and taking a seat on the very edge of the cushion, hugging my pack to my chest, as he made his way out of the room.

I looked around Will's living room, they had most of the furniture in this room set up, and it was already warm and inviting. The decor all earthy tones and pretty accents, and there were a few boxes scattered across the middle of the floor. On the wall across from me was a large window, letting in plenty of sunlight, and a table sat beneath it, housing pictures of Will's family.

I sat my backpack on the couch beside me and crossed the room, picking up a picture of Will, barely four years old. He was sitting in a field of tall grass, craning his head up to look at the camera being held over him. His mouth was open, laughing, and he was clutching some sort of toy in his lap.

"That was at our old cabin."

I jumped, nearly dropping the frame, and turned to face Will, who was watching me with an amused expression.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I told him, blushing and setting the picture back in its original spot.

Will chuckled at me, handing me my backpack, which he had apparently picked up on his way over here, and slinging a towel over his shoulder. "Come on." His voice was full of humor as he crossed to the door and pulled it open.

Mrs. O'Leary panted up at us from where she was dutifully sitting at the base of the stairs. Will grinned at her, loping down the stairs and stooping down to pet her, he spoke quiet praising words as he ruffled her ears. I huffed in amusement as I watched him, I'd never understood why people talked to their pets in baby voices. I'd always spoken to Mrs. O'Leary like she was a regular person, which was probably more of a problem.

I moved around him and Mrs. O'Leary immediately pulled away to follow. Will laughed and stood up, jogging after her into the trees.

"Wait, there's a lake in here?" He asked, looking around like he expected to see the large body of water hiding behind an oak tree.

I cast my eyes skyward, my mouth quirking up at the corners, "It's a little bit of a walk, Will."

He scowled at me, blushing, and earning a tiny, triumphant smile from me, the smallest little twitch at the corners of my mouth. I led him farther into the forest until we stopped at the edge of a gentle slope. The ground turned from grass to dirt and pebbles about ten feet from the bottom of the incline and then disappeared beneath the surface of the lake. A small creek ran in and out at the far side, keeping the water fresh, and in the middle of the lake was a small island with a few trees digging their roots into its surface and extending their branches over the water. The forest surrounded the lake completely, some trees marching right up to the edge of the water.

Will's eyes lit up as soon as he saw it, "No one else goes here?!"

I nodded proudly, "It's all ours." and then took off down the hill, throwing my backpack off underneath a large shade tree and flopping down on my back in the grass next to it. Mrs. O'Leary immediately ran for the lake, splashing around and barking.

Will laughed as he ran after me and plopped down next to my head, looking down at me with an expression of pure joy, "You're awesome."

I snorted, "Because I showed you a big puddle of water?"

"Partially."

I raised my eyebrows at him and he shrugged, pulling himself to his feet, he held his hand out for me. I shook my head, sitting up, "I'm not getting in yet."

"Neeks, we're at a lake!" He flailed his arm in its direction.

I shrugged, "I'll get in later." I promised, scooting back to lean against the tree's trunk.

"Fine." He pulled off his shirt and threw it at me, "Party-pooper."

I pushed the shirt off of me and flipped him off. He laughed, turning and running into the lake, as soon as he was in far enough he dove under, becoming a slim, wavering shape. I smirked, kicking off my shoes and pulling my art supplies out of my bag. I propped my sketchbook against my knees, looking out across the lake, and blew a strand of hair out of my face. I loved it here, it was so serene and beautiful.

Will's head broke the surface of the lake when he got to the more shallow ground near the island, his hair flew out on all sides as he shook his head like a wet dog. My actual wet dog was using her webbed paws to swim powerfully across the lake to meet him, the water parted easily around her waterproof coat; she was in her natural element out there. Will turned around to face her, grinning and urging her on.

I took my attention off them and turned it to my blank paper. I glanced from its smooth, white surface to Will, who was laughing and splashing around in the water with Mrs. O'Leary and I bit my lip, turning my 4B pencil in my fingers a couple of times before setting its tip down and moving it over the paper, leaving a light grey line over its surface. One tiny imperfection, one little line that would eventually shape something much more.

I let my shoulders relax, my hand guiding the pencil easily, just letting the lines flow, occasionally rubbing away an unwanted mark or scrubbing my finger across the graphite to smudge it. I forgot entirely about the lake and the birds tittering in the branches, even the grass underneath me, my entire attention was fixed on the task at hand.

"Coming in any time soon, Neeks?"

I jumped, my pencil stopping mid-line, and looked up at Will.

He was pushing strands of wet hair back from his face, water spilled off of its ends and ran down his freckled shoulders as he crouched down in front of me. "What're you drawing?"

I glanced down at my sketchbook, where his face was beginning to appear, and drew it into my chest, blushing. "Nothing."

His eyebrows lifted doubtfully, "Really? You must be pretty talented if you can depict nothing as something." I glared at him and he laughed, "I'm just kidding, you don't have to show me if you don't want to."

I closed the book quickly, tucking it into my bag again, and zipping it closed securely, "Maybe I'll let you see when it's finished."

His eyes glinted humorously, "Okay. You coming?"

I shook my head, "I don't really feel like swimming."

"You put your bathing suit on, you have to at least get in."

"Not necessarily. . ."

Will shook his hgead vigorously, splattering fat drops of water all over me, "GET IN!"

"WILL!"

He shot to his feet and bolted towards the lake, his laughter sounding oddly like a hyena. I leaped up and ran after him, "YOU CAGNA!"

Will barreled into the lake with me on his heels and turned around, kicking water at me. I immediately responded by splashing him back and soon enough we were in a full out war with Mrs. O'Leary running around us and barking excitedly.

Will howled with laughter at my enraged attempts to throw water at him and splashed me in return. It quickly became very apparent that Will was not new to this, as I was practically drowning in the great tidal waves being sent my way.

"OKAY!" I yelled through a face-full of lake, "TRUCE!"

Will immediately stopped his assault, still laughing like a madman. I glared at him again, which was probably not very intimidating considering that I was standing chest deep in the lake with my hair plastered over my face and water running off of me in torrents.

"Oh, come on, di Angelo! You know it's funny! You know you want to smile." he teased, smirking mischievously.

I rose an eyebrow at him, completely straight faced, and he frowned, "Nico, don't you ever smile?" he asked, his voice was concerned, but that didn't make the impact of his words any softer. My mood crashed with a painful twinge in my chest.

I took a step back, my lips twitching with the effort of keeping my face from crumbling, "You've only known me for a day." I muttered to the sand that was squelched between my toes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I snapped my head up, catching his eye and daring him to look away, "That you have no right to say whether or not I ever smile."

Will stared at me for a few seconds, "Nico. . . Are you okay?"

I suddenly had the irrational urge scream at him that I wasn't okay, that the world was screwed up, that society was screwed up, and that I was the most screwed up of them all. I wanted to yell at him until my throat was raw, I wanted to lay all of my problems on him at once, the stupid, dark things that shadowed my thoughts constantly, the guilt and pain I harbored over my mother and sister's deaths, the real reason my legs had a substantially greater amount of bruises covering them than was normal, and how my back and ribs held even more than that. I wanted to wail about all of the cruel things I'd been called, the humiliation I'd endured, and how I knew I deserved it but I still felt sorry for myself. I wanted to pound my fists against his chest and sob into his shoulder and ask him why, out of all the other people on this planet, had God chosen my life to be so hard.

But I didn't do any of that, because deep down I knew that it wasn't Will, or my tormentors, or anyone else, that I was mad at, it was myself. It wouldn't be fair to take out all of that anger on one single person who had been so unexplainably kind to me.

After letting the silence stretch out for far too long, I forced myself to choke out a breathy "Yes," fighting to keep my voice as normal as possible.

"Are you sure?"

But I was walking away from him now, throwing a half-hearted explanation over my shoulder, "We should head back. You need to be back before dinner."

I, of course, didn't know what time the Solace's had dinner, or what time it currently was anyway, but Will followed me without saying a word.

He'd no doubt figured out how broken I was, and if he hadn't, he was either drastically optimistic, hopelessly innocent, or extremely blind. Or maybe all three.