Nico liked guitar. In fact, it was one of the things he felt was the best about being in the pit. He didn't care if playing drew attention to himself, no one care about him outside of social media.

He hadn't wanted to join technical theatre until the school board defunded the guitar program, infinitely leading to the shut down. He needed an elective, and Jason suggested theatre. Nico told him he couldn't act to save his life, then Jason said, "Not Theatre, technical theatre. Mr. Apollo said he needed more pit members, and it's an easy A. You always perform in the pit anyway, so it can't be that different."

He was right. Nico played piano in the pit most of the time, but this year Mr. Apollo needed a guitarist, and Nico was happy to give him one. The guitar, acoustic, rhythm, lead, classical, you name it, Nico could play it.

Now, Nico was sight reading the chords from the music he received the day before. It was a bit of a challenge, as he didn't play folk that much. He had to practice every moment he could if he was going to have the audition bars mastered in three weeks. He mumbled the lyrics to Epic II as he played along.

"King of silver." Am. "King of gold." G.

It hurt to even mumble the lyrics on key. The notes were way out of his range as a tenor and baritone,  he didn't know how the countertenors did it.

Nico continued strumming the notes, occasionally adding rhythm and altering notes. It made the song sound a bit less like a Garageband loop.

Annabeth sat next to him. Nico was familiar with Annabeth, she was almost always PM in the musicals. She was one of the few who knew Nico by name and treated him like a decent person, not including his cousins.

"Hey, Nico," Annabeth said. "Can you ask Jason about the number of people auditioning? We have the info meeting tonight."

"He said all of musical theatre and a few chorus kids."

"Great, I'll see you at the meeting tonight."

"Wait, what do you think the pit number will be?"

"Seven."

Nico's heart skipped a beat at the small number. He remembered his All-State quartet last year.

Nico sighed. "It really isn't that hard to play in sync, and Grover it's A flat, we've been over this."

I should have just done the solo, or conducted an ensemble, that way the mistakes other people make won't be noticeable.

"Okay," Nico said. "Let's just start it from the top, we'll do eighty-eight beats per minutes this time."

That was with four people with instruments in the same key. He couldn't picture different keys, with orchestra and band together. It was going to be a pain in his ass.

Nico sat outside the cafeteria and tuned his guitar. He wasn't exactly sure why he had to attend this meeting, but all of tech was required to be there.

He looked up, trying to find Jason. He was supposed to come with a few other people: Leo, Drew, Piper, and Lacy. How he knew Piper McLean, Nico didn't know.

Nico looked back at his tuning keys. He didn't want to play Hadestown scores anymore. He'd been playing the songs all day. So, he tuned his strings to E, F#m, Bm, G, A: the chords to Hey There Delilah.

It wasn't his favorite song, but it was certainly better than trying to play Flowers for the fiftieth time.

He had started playing the first few chords before a blond guy sat next to him. Nico wasn't bothered by it, the boy wasn't bothering him, and most of the other benches were taken.

Nico continued playing, once her got past the first few measures, he began to sing.

Hey there, Delilah
What's it like in New York city?
I'm a thousand miles away
But, girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes, you do
Time square can't shine as bright as you
I swear, it's true

Hey there, Delilah
Don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise
I'm by your side

Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there, Delilah
I know times are gettin' hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good
We'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there, Delilah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all

Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
And we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah, I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there, Delilah
You be good, and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be makin' history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there, Delilah, here's to you
This ones for you

Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
Oh, it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Oh, whoa, whoa
Oh whoa, oh
Oh, oh

"Hey, guitar dude," called a voice. Nico turned to see a boy with green hair and tawny skin. "You're really good!"

"Thanks!"

"Are you auditioning?" said the boy next to Nico.

Nico snorted. "No, I'm in the pit. Are you?"

"No, my dad's Apollo," he said as he twiddled his thumbs.

"Ah," Nico said. "I'm Nico."

"Will," he said. "You were really good, though."

"Thanks, it took a solid month for thirteen-year-old me to master those chords."

"Well, it was worth it," Will said with a smile. "I assume you're playing guitar in the pit?"

"Yes. My mom is really into music and theatre. She taught me the basic chords when I was little," Nico said.

"Okay everyone, we're going to open the doors in a moment," said Piper through a mega-phone. Nico didn't know Jason had arrived, he probably talked to his theatre friends. "I suggest you take notes on the audition scores and rehearsal schedule and budget. Follow me to the caf."

Hey y'all!

I made some pasta and pesto from scratch because I have nothing better to do.

There also might be a bonus today or tomorrow. It won't be long or anything, but it's a bonus, SO BE GRATEFUL!

I also will not be doing Zarter. Sorry not sorry. Deal with it bitches.

I can't wait until I wrote Hazels chap. Because I have really kinky curly hair like hers and there will be a whole tutorial because I will go into detail with the struggles of having curly hair and you guys will have to deal with it.

Also Theyna is ace and some shit will hit the fan with them so be prepared.

And a totally unrelated note: I HAVE BECOME OBSESSED WITH THE MARKET OF MONSTERS TRILOGY NITA IS NOT TAKING ANY OF ANYONES SHIT AND I AM LOVING FOR IT.

That's all for now.

Love ya!