My heart was thudding in my chest, the Supreme Dickhead Crew had just made its way past, and once again, Percy wasn't at the head of it, and no one had paid me any attention (minus the sneer Octavian sent at me, but that was to be expected more than anything). I wasn't sure whether I should celebrate or not. My locker slammed shut with a satisfying bang! that cast those thoughts aside for now, to reveal an amused smirk and a pair of twinkling brown eyes.

I let out an annoyed sigh, wishing for once that Will wasn't home-schooled so he could get me out of this. "Hi, Leo. " I greeted, making an effort to sound as unenthusiastic as possible.

"Good to see you, too." I couldn't detect any of the sarcasm I'd been expecting, which somehow just made it sound even more sarcastic.

I checked my phone, 7:45, five more minutes to the bell to Hell. I barely suppressed a triumphant smile, "We should probably be heading to class." I pointed out.

Leo nodded, "What's your first period?"

"Mythology with Mr. Riordan," I replied, shifting my weight from foot to foot impatiently.

Leo nodded, "Mine's Science with Kemp, what luck, we can walk together!"

"Oh, joy!" I exclaimed, following Leo as he practically bounced up the hallway. "You know, I am such a people magnet lately."

Leo looked at me doubtfully, "Oh, yeah I saw all those people sitting with you at lunch."

"Leo, hate to break it to you, but there are people outside of this school, too." I took a moment to look horrified, "And thank God for that."

Leo snorted. At least he appreciated good humor. "So, people magnet?"

"Yeah, I managed to trick this tall kid into being my friend." I said, "Oh, hey! Look, there's my class! Gotta run!" I made a sharp turn into room 243 and sunk into my chair, scowling irritatably. I scanned over the date printed in the right hand corner of the board, Friday, May 22nd. Percy hasn't been here since Tuesday. That's three days and the rest of them still haven't tried anything. Worry gnawed at my gut as dropped my backpack onto the floor beneath me and leaned back, tempted to kick my feet up on the desk and lounge, but I found that it was better to stay invisable, and that meant not drawing attention to myself. My main concern was that Jackson might want to make up for lost time when he got back, and then I'd really have something to cry about.

Mr. Riordan walked in, grinning widely, and I pulled out my notebook distractedly. Time for another hour of aimless doodles. At least now I have something to look forward to when I get out of here. I found myself smiling vaguely, I had Will alone to thank for that.

-

I let out a surprised yelp as I turned around from closing my locker at the end of the day, my hand freezing in the middle of zipping my backpack.

Frank crossed the hallway in about two steps and pushed me against the lockers, wadding the collar of my shirt up in his huge fists. It wasn't the way Percy or Jason would've done it, with the pure intent of hurting me and making me look weak, but instead, was purely so I couldn't escape. "Look, I want to be very clear." he started, and I realized that this was the first time he had spoken to me in a threatening tone, and the school was pretty much empty, which meant no witnesses, and no need for him to keep his reputation. Merda. "I really like your sister and she can't know about anything, got it?"

I glared at him, rage suddenly bursting to life in my chest and swatting aside any fear I'd been feeling before. "You mean our little arrangement? The one where you stand by and watch while I get beaten senseless so that you can pretend you didn't do anything wrong because you didn't hit me? The one where I don't say anything about it because I know exactly what will happen? Just be a man and say it, Frank."

He flinched very slightly, and his jaw tightened. "Shut up, di Angelo." he said, quietly, his beefy hands were shaking, and a small spark of satisfaction rained down inside me. "If you say one word to Hazel, I personally beat you senseless."

I sneered, "You think too highly of my step-sister. She wouldn't dare un cazzo if she found out. Get out of my way, Zhang." I shoved at his chest, but he didn't budge.

"Not until you promise not to say anything." he growled.

"Hey! Why don't pick on someone your own size, Sausage Fingers?"

I never thought I'd be happy to hear the annoying Latino's chirpy voice, but I let out a mocking laugh at Leo's insult. Frank, however, ignored it. "Promise."

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Dickwad!"

"I promise, okay. Lay off." I snapped.

Frank let go of me and stepped back, "You'd better mean it."

"Yeah, you'd better run!" Leo yelled as Frank walked away, practically filling up the whole hallway, and I rolled my eyes, taking back what I'd thought earlier. I was definitely not happy to see him. I smoothed out my t-shirt angrily and snatched up my backpack from where I'd dropped it on the floor.

"Look," I said, turning to face him, "you can't tell the principal about this. If they get in trouble for it, they'll automatically assume I went and cried about it to someone, and that would only make things worse."

"Cross my heart." Leo said, drawing an X over his chest with his pointer, "What was Hot Dog saying to you, anyway?" I assumed this was a bad joke about "frank" being another word for "hot dog."

"He was just making me promise not to say anything to Hazel." I explained, zipping my backpack up the rest of the way. "Like I would."

Leo shook his head and fell into step with me as I walked towards the doors, the opposite direction from where Frank had gone. "He's an A-class asshole."

I grunted my agreement. "No kidding."

Leo shook his head and quickly changed the subject by asking my opinion on some movie that sounded vaguely familiar.

-

I nodded as he paused his endless rambling, obviously expecting an answer. I'd stopped listening some time ago when were just a few streets away from the school. He didn't seem to notice that I was off in my own world and only saying, "Yeah." or nodding when the situation called for it.

My head snapped up as someone called my name, an extremely familiar voice, in fact. My eyes focused in on Will and I let my face shift into a relaxed smile as he jogged up to us.

"Hey, Neeks." he said, glancing over at Leo, "I thought you said you don't have any friends. . . or was that just your way of guilting me into hanging out with you?" he teased.

Leo looked at Will, being only about an inch taller than me, he had to crane his neck to do so. "Oh, this is that tall kid you were talking about."

I rolled my eyes and gestured to Leo, "This is Leo, he's more of an acquaintance."

Leo stuck his hand out to Will, "Nice to meet you."

Will grinned and shook his hand while I watched awkwardly. "I'm Will Solace, Nico's neighbor and. . ." he looked over at me, raising his brow in question, "is it safe for me to call me your friend, or am I still just being tolerated?"

I acted like I was taking this into consideration for a few moments, "You can call yourself my friend, but only because you got me out of having dinner with Frank."

Will laughed and Leo gaped at me. "You had to have dinner with Frank? Frank Zhang? Sausage Fingers Frank?"

"Almost." I said, cutting him off before he could run through his never-ending list of nicknames, and casting him a look that clearly said, 'Don't say anything about it.' "My sister is dating him. She goes to Yancy so she doesn't know what he's like at school."

Leo obviously got the idea that I didn't want Will to know what went on, I gave him a point for that. "Oh." was all he said.

"So, do you live close by?" Will asked him, hooking his thumbs through his beltloops.

Leo nodded, "Yeah, I live on Parr."

Will looked at me for clarification.

"It's a few streets down from Nelson Way, the neighborhood that leads to ours." I told him, smiling a lttle.

Will laughed, crinkling his nose. "I know what street leads to ours, Neeks."

I punched him lightly on the arm, "Shut up."

Will just laughed again and turned to Leo without replying, "Me and Neeks are going to CiCi's, it's this great ice cream place, do you wanna come?" he asked, giving Leo that little lopsided smile. I felt a pang of something almost like anger in my chest, spurred by a stubborn voice in the back of my head that wanted all of Will's attention trained on me, like I was the only person he could smile at. I brushed it aside immediately, it didn't make any sense at all, and it completely freaked me out that I'd felt it, if even for split second.

"No, thanks." Leo said, brushing at the oil stains on his over-sized army jacket like that would make them go away. "This Bad Boy has other things to do." He winked at Will, who laughed before saying goodbye and pulling me in the direction I'd just come from. I waved hurriedly over my shoulder at Leo and then looked up at Will.

"So ,when did you decide that we were going to CiCi's?" I asked, smiling when he looked down at me, that lopsided grin on his face again.

He shrugged, chuckling. "Just now, actually. Before that I was just bored and I decided to come meet you." he informed me.

"Couldn't stay away, eh?" I teased, bumping my shoulder against his, which was really closer to his elbow, considering the height difference.

"You could say that." Will replied, "Didn't Leo say something about me being 'that tall kid you were talking about?'" He smirked as he said it.

"More like mentioned." I clarified.

"Suurrre. I bet you ramble on and on about the color of my eyes to him at lunch." he jeered.

I shoved him playfully and he took a small step to the left to steady himself. "Your ego is getting out of hand, you stronzo."

"You know, that really isn't fair."

I puffed out a disbelieving breath, "No, it's true."

"I was talking about the fact that I never know what you're calling me." he corrected.

I laughed, "Because you're a cazzo cagna."

He groaned, "What have I done?"

"Mi avete dato un grande strumento, grazie Will." I said, smirking.

Will pouted, "What did you just say?"

"Cio è per me da sapere e per te da non scoprire."

We spent the rest of the walk to CiCi's arguing playfully, Will in English, demanding that I tell him what I was saying, and me in Italian, mostly just rambling about nonsense and insulting him happily.

Will cheered loudly, much to the employee's confusion, as I consulted him about what to get, in English, and a couple of minutes later, we were sitting at a table with a single bowl of mixed stracciatella e gelato al pistacchio, which we split the bill for, and two spoons.

Will took a bite of the stracciatella, and closed his eyes, the tip of his spoon still firmly between his teeth as he 'mmm-ed' his appreciation. "I love Italy." he said.

"Me too." I said, smiling sadly down at the bowl and stabbing at the gelato with my spoon. "By the way, I should probably head home after this. I want to spend time with my dad while he's here."

Will nodded his understanding, and then his gaze landed on my hand; he reached across the table and grabbed my wrist, looking offended, "What did the gelato ever do to you?"

"Your accent sucks." I informed him instead of answering, pulling out of his grip and flicking a bit of stracciatella at him with my plastic spoon.

He reached up and wiped it off with his hand and licked it off his fingers while I judged him silently. "What? I'm not going to let any of it go to waste."

I laughed and scooped a spoonful of pistachio, "Good point." I said a moment before I ate it.

We ate in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, Will making me laugh by blocking me from getting any gelato with his spoon and looking deathly serious about it. He smiled suddenly, his gaze fixated on something over my shoulder.

"What're you looking at?" I asked lightly, turning around to find out. My gaze landed on a couple-- two boys-- holding hands as they ordered. Disgust kicked in my gut, brought on by years of people telling me that it was the proper reaction.

"What?" I asked, looking back at Will.

He shrugged, "It just makes me happy, you know, that they feel comfortable showing their affection out in public like that. I mean, the world really shouldn't have a problem with them innocently. . ." he trailed off, seeing the expression on my face, his eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"But. . . It's not natural. It's not right." I explained, like it was obvious, "I mean. . . They're both guys. It's disgusting." My mouth was doing every ounce of thinking right then, and judging by Will's face, it wasn't a good thing. At all.

He looked like a slowly deflating balloon for a couple of seconds, almost like I had just slapped him and he was trying to decide whether it would be more appropriate to succumb to tears or hit me back. It made my chest tighten with fear, seeing the anger and hurt building in his eyes.

"Is that what they are. . . disgusting?" His voice was quiet, and it quavered slightly. He looked like all of the hope had been sucked right out of him. "Like some kind of mold that's been growing on your leftovers?"

I didn't understand what he was getting so upset about. "Will. . .?"

He stared at me for a couple of seconds, almost like he was daring me to apologize, but the devastation underlying it told me he knew I wouldn't. "I'm gay, Nico." He words sounded broken, but even right then he didn't say my name like it was an insult, it just sounded hollow, like he was reciting some foreign word he had to know for a test. That stung even more, because the way he'd said it in the past had made me feel like I actually meant something.

I stared at him in shock, "Y-you--"

Will's lips tightened into an unbreakable line, his jaw clenched so tight he looked like a statue, hard and unfeeling. Unless you looked into his eyes, you could hardly call them unfeeling right then. His chair screeched loudly across the checkered tiles, almost toppling over, as he stood up in one lighting fast movement, shaking, his hands braced against the table, his muscles rigid. "Is that what I am to you now that you know? Disgusting?" he was whispering, his voice choked, but a few people were turning to look.

My mouth opened and closed, my heart beating out its erratic panic, but the words flying around inside my brain couldn't find their way out. No. No. Will is anything but disgusting. He's the only person that's been nice to me purely because he wants to. Because he sees something in me. Saw something in me. I corrected, gripping the table and feeling sick.

He slammed his hand down on the table, causing the bowl and silverware to jump into the air, the metal napkin dispenser tumbled off the edge. "ANSWER ME."

I remembered suddenly how I had felt with Percy, screaming at him to answer because I wanted proof that my words had affected him in some way. "No-- Will, you're--" I stumbled desperately.

"LIAR." Tears were streaming freely from his eyes now. "Why would it be any different for me?"

"Wi--"

"I NEVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY MY NAME AGAIN." He had whipped around before he even finished speaking, and this time his chair did fall, landing with a resounding crash that shook me to the core, and then he was gone.

I stared at the place where he'd disappeared, only half aware of the people gawking at me. I wasn't sure when I'd stood up, but my legs were shaking so badly that I was forced to fall back into my chair before they gave out. I wanted to run after him and apologize, beg him not to be mad at me, but I knew that he wouldn't listen.

I might have started crying right then, I don't really remember, all I knew is that my chest felt cold and regretful. Numb. I'd known this was going to happen eventually, I would do something and Will would realize that he really didn't want to be around me, but that didn't make it any easier to accept, in fact, it made it harder, because I had been beginning to believe that just maybe it wasn't true.

Someone came up and asked if I was okay, but I ignored them, standing up shakily and moving out the door. The next thirty minutes were a blur of sidewalk and honking cars as I blundered my way back home.

It was like I'd lost the only speck of happiness I'd had in my life. I guess, because I had. Will made things seem better, I could smile when he was around. I'd spent so long pretending that I was happy, when really I was always worried, anxious, and sad. I didn't want to go back to that. I just wanted Will back.

A small part of me had been hoping I'd run into him on the way to my house, but he'd probably taken another route, or gone somewhere else entirely.

I was smart enough to sit down at the corner before turning onto the tiny street I shared with Will, so that I could get a grip on my emotions.

You've only known him for a week. He's just a kid. It's a good thing he got out now, before you could hurt him anymore. Before he could hurt you anymore. You've survived four years on your own. What difference does another two make? This is all your fault anyway, just take it like a man and move on.

I wiped any traces of wetness from my face and then sat there, breathing steadily until I thought my face looked relatively normal and not-puffy, and then I stood up and walked to my house, only remembering to slap on a smile the moment before I opened the door.

-

Saturday went by in a blur of regret and desolation. Several times I'd tried to work up the courage to call Will and apologize, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it for fear that I'd have to hear his voice full of hate again.

My parents seemed to realize something wasn't right, exchanging worried glances as I picked at my meal half-heartedly at dinner, not paying attention to Mrs. O'Leary as she poked at my side with her nose. I wasn't even trying to hide the fact that I was sad. I dismissed myself from the table and headed up to my room, where I curled up in a mass of blankets and beat myself up over what I'd said. It was almost like I'd become my own tormentor in place of Percy.

I pulled out my cell phone and started reading through all of the texts Will and I had exchanged while I was in school, late at night and early in the morning when neither of us could sleep, random moments during the day when one of us got bored.

I laughed sadly, trying to convince myself that I should be grateful for the week I'd had with him as my friend, and then I fell asleep with the tiny device curled in my fingers.

-

A knock sounded at my bedroom door, but I wasn't feeling up to answering it or even moving out from under my blanket nest anytime soon.

"Nico, come on downstairs. We're going out for lunch." Marie's voice coaxed.

I closed my eyes, blowing out a breath, "You can go without me, I'm not feeling too good." I called to her. It wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't really a lie either, I wasn't feeling good, just not in the way she would assume.

Marie didn't reply and I assumed she was just going to leave me alone, but a minute later, my bedroom door opened and someone sat at the foot of my bed.

"Nico." My father's thick voice was worried, "You've been acting strange since you got home on Friday, is everything alright?"

"I already told you, I just don't feel good." I answered, pulling the blanket away from my face to look at him.

"Are you sure? You could invite Will and you two could decide where we go." he pressed.

I averted my gaze, a pang of sorrow piercing my chest at his name. "N-no. That's okay, I think Will's busy today anyway." I muttered, a muscle in my face twitching.

Hades was silent for a moment. "Is everything okay between you two?"

I closed my eyes. It wouldn't do any good to lie to him, it would just make things more complicated in the long run. "We got in a fight." I said simply.

My dad nodded his understanding, "Friendship is a curious thing. Like most things, it can bring us great joy, but also much grief. Don't let this be the thing that brings you down, tutto andrà bene, vedrai."

"Thanks, Dad." I said, "Spero che possano." I was already down before this. I wanted to say.

He stood up, "I'm always there if you need me. Are you still staying here?"

"Yeah." I told him.

He nodded and left my room, clucking his tongue for Mrs. O'Leary to follow.

I reached for my phone and typed in Will's number, my finger hovered over the call button for the hundredth time that weekend. I stared at the screen, trying to convince myself to press the button, until the screen timed out. I sighed and flipped it closed, closing my eyes.

What would I say anyway? 'Hey, Will. I'm sorry I totally called you disgusting and-- oh, whoops! You said you never wanted to hear me say your name again, well, this is awkward. Bye.' And what would he say?

I'd deserve all of it no matter what.

Technically you didn't do anything wrong. A voice whispered in the back pf my head, You were just telling him what you believe.

I shook my head and then buried my face in my pillow. Will had every right to be mad at me. I'm a sorry excuse for a human being.

I dragged myself out of bed, wanting something to get my mind off of my shattered friendship, and headed for the kitchen. Once there, I started rooting through everything for comfort food.

I found some pralines and caramel ice cream and set to work getting myself a generous helping of it. I finished and started making my way back to my room with the bowl. Voices filtered into the entryway from the living room, and I didn't think anything of it until one of the voices' owner stepped out of the room.

I froze in my tracks and the bowl slipped from my fingers, shattering and making a mess around my feet.

The other voices ceased and Hazel's alone carried our way, "Is everything okay out there?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." Jason said, smiling at me in a way that made my stomach churn. He didn't take his eyes off of me as Hazel appeared in the doorway next to him.

My sister rolled her big golden eyes, "Sorry about my brother." she said, glaring at me, "Stop staring at him like he's some weird creature."

I took a step back and forced myself to wrench my eyes away from Jason to look at her, "Sorry." I said quietly, "I-- I'll clean it up."

I rushed into the kitchen and got what I needed to clean up my mess. They had disappeared back into the living room when I returned, but my hands still shook as I swept the bowl into a dust pan and wiped up the ice cream with some paper towels. My home had been the place I was positive I could be safe from them. Frank being there wasn't that big of a deal, I doubted he'd tell anyone where I lived, but Jason was a whole other story.

I listened closely for a second to the conversation going on in the next room, it was just Hazel, Frank, and Jason. I allowed myself a small sigh of relief, Octavian and Percy hadn't crossed into my safe zone. Yet.

I didn't waste any time disposing of my mess of glass and used paper towels before I ran up the stairs and locked myself in my room. There was no possible way I was letting any of them get near my sanctuary.

I backed up from the door, watching it like Frank was going to bust it down any second. "Oh Dio." I muttered, "I can't get away anymore."

I fell onto my bed, staring at the wall in horror. If I went to school, they were there, if I went out, there was always the chance they'd be there, if I was here, they could be too. I couldn't even go to Will's anymore.

I pressed my face into my hands, "Please, just let things work out. Please, just once." My voice cracked on the last word and I pulled in a rattling breath before a sob slipped out of my mouth.

I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and forced myself to stop crying. "Crying is weakness. I need to be strong."

-

Another knock at my door. I called for whoever it was to come in. My father's face was lined with concern for me, I hadn't come out of my room since I'd seen Jason, which would have been normal a week ago.

"We're having dinner soon, Nico." his accented voice pushed past the dark, gloomy haze I was in. It was strange how my own accent had faded so much in four years and his hadn't; hearing him talk made my heart ache with nostalgia.

"I'm not hungry." I answered after a long silence.

My father sighed sympathetically. "I know Will was the first friend you'd had in a while." Was.

I looked him in the eye, "He's in the past now." I wanted to believe that it was a lie.

My dad looked doubtful and sad, but dropped the subject. "You should at least eat something."

I nodded absently, "Yeah, okay. I'll come down for dinner."

-

I regretted the decision the moment I stepped into the dining room. Jason gave me a smile that was thinly laced with venom and Frank gave me a quick warning glare. You'd better keep that promise.

They were sitting on either side of Hazel, Jason on the left, Frank on the right.

I swallowed and walked stiffly over to my chair, my father was seated at the right end of the table, next to me, my mother to the left, at the head. This time I don't have Will to get me out of it.

My mom didn't seem to notice anything peculiar, my dad however, glanced back and forth between the three of us, a muscle near his jaw twitching. I made an effort to keep my eyes off of his while he passed me the salad after my mom offered the blessing.

A conversation started and I stared down at my plate, picking at the food there slowly, and shutting out all of the noise around me.

"Nico!"

My head shot up and my father's laughing eyes met my own, his brow crinkled as they met mine. "Where have you been? I called your name about five times."

I felt blood rush to my cheeks as Jason and my mom laughed, their tones completely different, while Frank and Hazel sat in silence, the latter of the two rolling her eyes and the former seeming extremely awkward.

"O-oh." I stuttered, "Sorry, I was just. . . thinking. . . What'd you need?"

"Jason was just telling me you have a few classes together." my dad informed me, his black eyes asking more than his words did. I could feel the blonde's eyes on the back of my head, daring me to say something, and Frank's promising a dark fate if I did.

I just nodded, attempting to look and sound as at ease as possible. I tried to imagine Will's voice and smile, the ones before I ruined everything. It would have helped a lot more if my throat didn't close up at the knowledge he'd never smile or speak to me like that again. "Yeah. We do."

Hades smiled again, "Which ones?"

I poked at my chicken with my fork. "Just language and foods." I made myself look back up at him, "We don't talk much."

"Yeah." Jason piped up from the left end of the table, "We haven't really talked too often, but I've seen him."

Frank took up the role of 'Overly Interested Plate-Observer' in my stead. Hazel leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and Frank glanced up at her long enough to shake his head, and then his jaw tensed at Jason's next sentence.

"Maybe we'll talk more often now that we know each other." He sounded suprisingly pleasant, but I knew he was really taunting me. I flinched very slightly, but judging by the smirk that flitted across his face, I knew he'd noticed.

"May I be excused?" I asked quietly, feeling stupid and small staring at the surface of the table.

My mom seemed confused by the question, "We're having banana cream pie for dessert." she informed me, as if that would solve all of my problems. I wished things could be that simple. Instead, the words 'banana cream pie' brought me back to the day when Will had smiled at me for the first time. It seemed like I'd known him for a lot longer than a week.

I shook my head, "I'm okay." I said quietly, telling my mom that I didn't want any pie, but telling myself that I wasn't going to fall to pieces.

I fell asleep wondering if Will was thinking of me right then; how many times I'd crossed his mind over the past two days. Is it even normal to think of someone this often?

-

I slept.

I ate.

I went to school.

I survived.

I told myself that I didn't care. That I was numb. During the day it was easy to believe. Easy to drift through the work, to only half wake up when Jason, who seemed to have become the stand-in pack leader, taunted me. Octavian pitched in too, while Frank tried to fade into the background, but he was over at my house much to often to be invisable.

My nights were anything but numb. Sleeping was sometimes more of a torture than being awake, even when my dreams were pleasant. Especially when they were pleasant. Waking up and being reminded of the truth was like the incident at CiCi's on constant replay; being given happiness so temporarily and then having it snatched away in the blink of an eye.

It'd been two weeks since that day, and I still hadn't been able to bring myself to go across the street and talk to him or even send a simple text. I'd even seen him a few times, out front playing with Kit, leaving or returning to his house; he even had a few other people with him a couple of times. I never tried to draw attention to myself, and if Will saw me, he didn't acknowledge my presence. At least it was better than him glaring at me or taking every chance he got to make me feel even more guilty than I already did. I couldn't see Will doing anything like that anyway.

I wandered into art and sunk into my chair. Another class. Same old routine. Same old, regular day. I watched Mr. Ptah through glazed eyes, half-listening to what he was saying as I twirled my pencil in my fingers. I dropped my gaze to the writing utensil; an orange blur now. It looked like my life felt lately, unclear and hazy, just going through the same motions over and over. Except my life would be a much duller color, like grey or brown. Or black. Definitely black.

Warm air drifted over the back of my neck and the pencil froze, my fingers clenching it so hard that it probably would have snapped had I been stronger.

"Miss me?" Percy whispered, and my jaw tightened along with my shoulder muscles.

Suddenly Mr. Ptah stopped speaking, his gaze frozen on Percy. "Mr. Jackson, if what you're saying is so important, why don't you share it with the class." His normally jovial tone was full of harsh guile and I wondered if he could tell Percy wasn't sharing an interesting insite with a friend.

I sensed Percy move away from me, heard it as his expensive jeans hit the plastic of his chair. I imagined him giving our teacher a smile laced with sarcasm, his arms folded, lounging back in his chair like he owned the place. I didn't want to turn around to find out if I was right.

"I was just telling Nico that it's good to see him again."

Mr. Ptah stared over my head for a few seconds before he turned abruptly, clearing his throat. "Right. . . Where was I. . .?"

Percy always won in the end.

-

It was like a light switch had been flicked on after that, I was suddenly thrown back into reality, into realizing that if I was numb I couldn't feel, but I also couldn't be aware. My nerves were ringing the rest of the day, I was just waiting for him to pounce. I was a gazelle trying to hide from a lion in grass that was to short for me to go unseen but to high for me to keep an eye on my hunter.

I still had hope when the bell rang at the end of the day, I still raced to my locker and threw my things into my bag haphazardly. I guess I never learned my lesson. Gazelles are fast, but so are lions, and they're vicious and cunning as well.

I went out the back, hoping that they'd expect me to go through the front, but they were smarter than that. Percy and Jason were waiting when I barreled through the door, I could only assume that Frank and Octavian would have been waiting had I gone out the front.

I thought fleetingly that I could have gone out the side door, but I'd have to cross in front or back of the school to get to my house. I was doomed from the start.

I stalled as soon as I caught sight of them, my hand still bracing the door open. They stared me down for what simultaneously felt like eternity and no time at all.

"Aren't you going to welcome me back?" Percy finally broke the silence, the look on his face told me he was out for blood. He looked absolutely livid and I couldn't remember ever being more terrified in my life. Except, of course, when I was still trying to process that my family was gone.

He stalked towards me, gesturing for Jason to stay put, and I barely managed to take a weak step backwards in my panic before he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and yanked me towards him. The door swung closed, clipping my shoulder and colliding with my ankle in the process. My knees hit the ground, but Percy didn't release my shirt, and I heard stitching through the collar snapping.

"Stand up." he snarled, and I could have sworn his voice hitched on the last letter.

I scrambled to my feet, trying to break free, my movements frantic. Percy shoved me back into the door, and pain shot through me. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath against my face. I squirmed and shoved at his chest and he yanked me forward just to slam me back against the door again.

"Why?" he yelled, "I DON'T GET IT."

He slammed a fist into the window next to my head so hard that I was suprised the glass didn't crack. And then he sobbed. Percy Jackson. The stronzo who beat on me every day he could. The kid who acted like he was untouchable. Cazzo. He was untouchable. And he knew it. But I didn't have time to feel any remorse for him, or maybe I just couldn't. I did, however, take a moment to be extremely confused.

"Wh-"

He slapped me as hard as he could across the face, "SHUT UP, DI ANGELO. SHUT UP."

He stepped back and threw me to the ground, my forearms hit first, and then my hands, the my skin dragged over the asphalt, layers of skin peeled away as easy as tearing through a single sheet of paper.

A foot collided with my back, smashing the rest of my body into the road, I barely managed to keep my face from taking the brunt of it. I tried to crawl away, to do anything, but his sneaker was firmly planted on the small of my back, and then he was forcing me to roll over, and his foot was on my chest, pushing down, making it hard to breathe.

"IT'S NOT FAIR." he screamed down at me, and his shoe connected with my chin.

He bent down and grabbed me by the front of my shirt, dragging me back up again, and I barely had any energy left to try and fight back. I wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but my vision became a blur of angry, broken sea green eyes, and then bricks.

"SHE DIDN'T DESERVE IT." he wailed, and then my head my head was an explosion of pain and my vision completely winked out without me closing my eyes. . .

I've been dreading writing this chapter since I decided on this plot point ahshdhxb *cries* i hated writing it so much (which is one of the reasons this one took especially long) but I also liked writing it. . . Because I'm twisted and evil. Whoops.

Updates will probably be even slower now (I'm so sorry gah) because I just started school and I spend a lot of time at my dance/tumbling/acro studio ajsmskx *stressed Ashley noises* but this one also took forever too because my phone completely froze up and I had to get a new one so basically I couldn't write for a whole week (and I couldn't use a notebook because I couldn't remember how I'd left off) and it ssuuucckkkeedd

Also, sorry if I'm not portraying high school correctly, I live in Utah, USA and I think it's the only state (or one of the only ones) that has you stay in the middle school setting from 7th-9th (cuz it's cheaper apparently) so I'm in 9th and my grades count towards high school, but I'm not in the high school building. . . It's really weird, idk, but what I'm trying to say is that I haven't actually been in high school so idk how it is XD and now you have some completely useless knowledge about my state, you're welcome.

Thanks for reading that if you did, and of you didn't, thank you for existing and reading this story, you lovely human being. Not that you're not a lovely human being who should be proud of their existence if you did read that.. . . .. that wouldn't make sense.