The waves crashed, the sand burned, and Nico di Angelo hadn't left his spot in the shade for more than fifteen minutes. Currently, he sat with his sister and her boyfriend under the shade of an umbrella and near the life guards post.

Camp Halfblood had decided to drive (or fly, or find other crazy means of transportation) all the way to California for a beach trip with the Romans. Almost everyone had come; and as Nico quickly learned, it was everyone's passioned desire to get him to swim in the water.

He had rejected everyone vehemently and now sat in the protection of Hazel and Frank, who were doing a good job at stopping people from approaching. Nico could practically hide behind Frank unnoticed, without Hazel's help.

~An Hour Earlier~

Nico jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, ready to get away from the commotion within. After arriving at Camp Jupiter and spending the night, everyone had piled into vans and trucks to drive to the beach. He had been dragged in an extremely large van with the seven, Reyna, and Calypso. He sat in the passenger's seat, while Reyna drove.

He had been highly against sitting crammed in the back with the others.

Frank, Hazel and Calypso sat in the very back row, and in front of them was Percy, Leo and Jason who were almost swaying the car from wrestling and jumping around. Hazel laughed animatedly at their antics. Then in the first row sat Piper and Annabeth who were also talking excitedly with Reyna. The three older girls had become very close to one another in the past year.

Nico looked out the window of the bright blue BMW and enjoyed the scenery of the coast. The Romans had said they would be going to one of the best beaches around. It was named Book Beach.

After the seven (plus three) had grabbed their gear they started to walk towards to water. Nico, being the ADHD demigod he was, looked around for signs of monster or other could easily tell where most of the campers had set up their towels, choosing to stick together. Although a few had wandered off to less occupied parts of the beach.

As they were walking towards their claimed spot he looked at the other occupants of the beach. There was a woman with long brown hair and her husband sitting on green and orange towels respectively. They had two little kids running around them and playing in the sand.

Farther away from where they were heading sat a relatively big group of people. Most of them seemed to be red-heads, which was odd, although there was a women with bushy brown hair and a man with dark black. He wore round glasses and even from far away Nico could see a scar on his forehead. There were also a few kids in the water with stark blonde hair, or bright blue.

Nico continued to walk, but not before hearing the bushy haired women shout out, "Rose, put that fish back in the water. It can't breath!" The little girl giggled and did as her (assumably) mother said.

As he got closer to where most of the campers were set up he noticed familiar faces. Grover and Juniper sat on a large towel laughing together. Farther down Clarisse and a few Ares and Mars kids were fighting amongst themselves in a friendly way. Katie and Connor were sitting nearby with Travis looking like he was up to no good. He kept glancing around, and when he made eye contact with Nico he grinned like a madman. Nico kept looking for one face amongst all the Romans and Greeks he knew.

Finally Nico noticed Will Solace who was in the water with his two friends Cecil and Lou-Ellen, and farther up on the beach sat Kayla and Austin, and more of their friends.

Will saw Nico and grinned and waved animatedly, arm over his head. Nico gave a small smile in return and simply waved his hand. He had to pull his gaze away, worried (and not trusting himself) of staring at a topless Will. He felt like an idiot by his own thoughts.

The seven (plus three) started to walk over to a open space near the life guards post. It also was relatively near Will's spot. He caught Reyna staring at him, smiling and giving a knowing look. He glared back.

"Hey me and Calypso are going to find our own space," Leo said when everyone started to lay their things down.

"Calypso and I," she corrected.

"Fine if you need to put your name in front of mine that's fine with me," he said. Calypso rubbed her temple with her thumb and forefinger. Although she looked secretly bemused to Nico.

"We'll see you later," she said grabbing Leo's arm and dragging him away, "Don't leave without us."

"No promises!" Nico called out getting some of the others to laugh. Nico could still make out Leo's bright orange shorts after they left. He had charged into the water while Calypso would switch off of reading and swimming.

"Okay water time!" Percy had jumped up and was grinning at everyone excitedly. He quickly pulled off his shirt, revealing strong muscles. He wore simple turquoise swim trunks, and looked around at everyone excitedly like a puppy.

After Nico had come out, both Percy and Jason took on a protective role, making sure no one ever harassed him. Nico was grateful but it sometimes got out of hand.

They had brought two surfboards, one boogie board, and an inner tube. It had been a huge pain to fit and tie them to the van. Percy grabbed a bright blue one with orange streaks, and Piper grabbed a green one with pink streaks.

She had on a two piece that was a neon green with a dark teal swirling pattern on the top, though she kept on her denim short. She was a great surfer since her dad had taught her at a young age. She looked over at Percy and grinned.

"Let's go," she said. The two of them raced off to the shore and Percy practically flung himself into the water.

Annabeth laughed at him and moved out to the water, taking the inner tube with her. She had brought book; but the beaches water was warm, and almost everyone else was swimming. She had on a black two piece and her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail. She settled for floating around in the waves laughing as Percy would occasionally bend the water so she spinned around quickly.

Next to walk out was Reyna and Jason, who had once again become great friends. Jason had on a white rash guard shirt and a pair of purple trunks. Plus he had the boogie board in his arm. Reyna had on a deep blue one piece. In the car the two had taken a bet to see who could ride in on the most waves with the board.

That left him, Frank and Hazel.

"Are you coming Nico?" She had on a yellow one piece with her hair also in a ponytail and Frank was in a a black rash guard with red trunks. It was only recently that Percy had taught her to swim, with Frank swimming as a dolphin nearby for encouragement. It wasn't a needed skill while she was growing up.

"I'm going to stay on the shore, under the shade." he replied. Hazel raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Maybe later." When her eyes lit up happily he raised his hand and repeated "Maybe," She didn't stop grinning none the less.

They walked down to the water and Nico set up a chair with an umbrella overhead, and he contented himself with shutting his eyes and listening to his friends laughter.

It was only minutes after when the chaos begun.

~More to come little ducks~

~And yes those were other book characters - it's named book beach after all~