Annabeth rushed toward her next class, which was two halls and up a flight of stairs away. She had two minutes, and she had never been late for class before. She raced up a stairwell and turned a corner, slamming straight into a young boy-probably a freshman- and falling over.

"Oh gods. I'm so sorry. Are you all right, I'm sorry. I'm late."

The boy glanced up at her from the floor where he was picking up his stuff and shoving it back into a black bag. He had long dark vaguely curly hair, which framed his pale face. he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. But his eyes. They were dark brown, almost black, but you could see years of pain and misery behind them. A look of desperation, like he was hoping for something to forget whatever happened to make him that way.

"I'm fine. Here are your books. You should get to class. 30 seconds."

"While Annabeth had been staring, the boy had gathered her books and stood up. He was so small, Annabeth wondered why the collision hadn't broken every bone in his body. She recognized him.

"Thank you. I'm Annabeth Chase. You have the same lunch as me." She smiled at him.

"Nico di Angelo. I know. You're the girl who likes books." He walked off, and Annabeth hurried to class.

Percy climbed out of the pool and shook his unruly black hair out of his face. He grabbed a towel and dried his hair, then went to change. He had 5 minutes until his next class. He should hurry if he wanted to get there on time. As he was walking out of the locker room he noticed a book laying on the bench.

Property of: Nico di Angelo

Percy put the book in his bag. He was pretty sure he had lunch with Nico. He would give him the book then.

Nico was unnerved by the encounter with Annabeth that morning. He vaguely knew the blonde, she was in his lunch, and she usually sat with some other boy who really liked blue and green. He had lunch in a few minutes, and he was getting ready to throw his books in his bag and run, when he realized that his math book was missing. Great, now he would probably get a detention or something. The bell rang and he went to lunch.

Percy ran from his class toward the cafeteria. It was Taco Tuesday. He slowed to a walk and walked into the cafeteria. He got his food and set it down next to Annabeth.

"Hi Perce, how's it going?" She said, not even looking up from her architecture book.

"Hi Annabeth, I'm fine. Do you know where Nico di Angelo is?"

Annabeth looked up in shock. Why was Nico popping up everywhere today?

"Um, why? Did you run into him too?"

"What? No, I found his math book in the locker room during my free period. Do you see him?"

"He's over in the corner there." Annabeth gestured towards a corner away from everyone else where a dark hairedd boy sat alone.

"Thanks. I'll be right back, and you can tell me about running into him."

Percy walked over to Nico, but the boy didn't even look up.

"Are you Nico di Angelo?" He asked.

"Yeah, why?" said the boy, looking up at him. The first thing Percy noticed was his eyes. Filled with sorrow and hate, desperation, this boy had been through some rough shit through his life.

"I found your math book in the locker room today", said Percy as he handed Nico the book.

"Thank you, I was looking for this." Nico managed a small smile as he put the book in his bag.

Percy was still there, and Nico started feeling uncomftorble.

"Come sit with Annabeth and me. " He said, and Nico glanced back up, shocked that somebody would sit with him.

"I'm not really a people person" he startedd to say.

"That's okay. Neither is Annabeth. I can talk enough for the both of you, though. Come on, please?"

Nico sighed and followed Percy back to his table.

"Annabeth, look! Nico's gonna sit with us! Okay? Okay."

Annabeth glanced up and smiled at Nico.

"Hey, Nico."

"Hi." Nico mumbled as he sat across from her. Percy sat next to him.

"What do you like?"Nico didn't realize the question was aimed at him until he looked up and saw Annabeth looking at him over the top of her book.

"Um, what?"

"What do you like, Nico? For music."

"Oh, um I like Imagine Dragons…Hollywood Undead…. Green day… Stuff like that."

"Okay, what about books?"

"I don't really read. I'm not…like that."

"You don't read?" Annabeth practically yelled. "Reading is fundamental to understand and comprehend new things. Reading is awesome. What do you do all day if you don't read?"

Nico shrank back in his seat.

"Annabeth, calm down! Reading may be fundamental, but you're just mental. Lots of people don't like reading. Maybe he writes."

Annabeth sat down and looked over at Percy.

"Sorry Nico, I just… really like reading."

"Apparently." Nico muttered, and Percy laughed.

"So you two knew each other?" Percy asked.

"I ran into him on my way to class. Literally."

"Oh, wow. Good job with that, Annabeth. Ramming into poor innocent high schoolers."

"I apologized!"

Just then, the bell rang and students started getting up.

"Bye, Nico! Bye Perce!" Annabeth was the second person to leave the cafeteria.

"Damn, she moves fast. Bet it hurt when she hit you. Where's your next class?"

" Upstairs. Room E-4."

"I'll walk you. Come on."

" What about your class?"

"It's a study hall. Come on."

Nico and Percy walked to Nico's next class, but Percy couldn't help but look at him. Nico's black hair was longer than Percy's, and it framed his face, swinging back as he walked.

"Why is your hair so long, Neek?"

"Because it grows. Does your's not?" Percy laughed, and Nico smiled.

"My hair grows, but my mother makes me cut it. Are you just allowed to grow out your hair however you want it?"

"My parents don't care." The small italian boy said. They had arrived at his classroom.

"Thanks for walking me and letting me sit with you."

"Anytime. You are my new friend, Nico di Angelo."

They exchanged numbers and Nico walked inside the classroom. As, he was walking away, Percy wondered if Nico's parents cared at all. Nico was so lonely. Didn't they notice when he needed a trim or wasn't happy? Percy decided even if his parents didn't care, he would.

So that's chapter one, guys! Hope you liked!

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