Mount Olympus School of Technology, home of the Mount Olympus Minotaurs, educates some of the brightest teenage minds on the East Coast, possibly even in the entire country. Separated into 25 academies, each specialized so the students will excel in their choice of future occupation. Located in Newark, New Jersey, this school is world renowned and placed in the top 500 best schools in the country for years running. Mount Olympus is also commonly known by many nicknames: MOST, The Minotaurs, Greek Life, and Will Solace's dream school.
Will applied to the school of his dreams months ago, back in december. He'd taken a test (which he got a B on from nerves), attended an online interview, and spent many hours awake at night thinking about whether or not he was willing to move to New Jersey.
"Hun, are you alright?" His mother asked him one Saturday morning in late May. Eighth grade was coming to a close, and everyone in his class already knew where they were going, except for him. He'd made arrangements to go to his local public school, as Mount Olympus doesn't tell you whether or not you've been accepted until the middle of the summer, and Will still wasn't sure if he wanted to go at all.
"Yeah… why do you ask?" Will yawned, rubbing his eye.
"Because you've got more bags under your eyes than you've got freckles on your face." She said, grabbing him by the chin and turning his face to look at her. "Hun, have you been sleepin' at all?"
"Not really." Will sighed, leaning his head on his hand. "It's just… New Jersey? It's so different than it is around here. What if I go and I don't like it?"
"Then you leave, and come back home." She said.
"That means you lose the money you spent on tuition." Will reasoned. "Besides, this place is my dream school! It's just… I don't know… I just don't know what I'm gettin' myself into."
"Well…" His mom started, holding his hands in hers comfortingly. "Your dad and I have been talkin' and we've decided that we're all going to spend the summer at the Jersey Shore."
"What?!" Will shouted.
"We thought you'd want to scope New Jersey out for a bit." She smiled.
"Mom, thank you, but I don't wanna waste yours and dad's money, and for the whole summer, I mean-"
"It's too late. We've already rented a house. Your sister Kayla and Aunt Diana are comin' too! You've missed them so much lately!" She smiled. Will bit the inside of his lip and sighed.
"You sure?" Will asked, pouting concernedly. She nodded. He groaned in defeat and she smiled.
"Start packing, we're leaving the day after you graduate."
"Will!" Kayla basically tackled him when he and his parents arrived in their rented beach house.
"Hey, Kayla." He groaned, trying to push himself up. "K-Kay, you're crushing me."
"Oh, sorry." She laughed, standing up, and offering him her hand. "It's been too long, dude."
"We skyped literally like 5 hours ago." Will cocked an eyebrow.
"But it's not the same! Why do you have to live so far? Like, what's so great about Texas, New York is where it's at, man." She insisted. Will laughed.
"Will…" A cool and feminine voice spoke from behind him.
"Aunt Diana!" Will exclaimed happily, hugging his aunt tightly. She chuckled and mussed up his hair.
"How're you, kid?" She asked. Will beamed at her in response. She looked over his shoulder at his father and frowned. "Apollo…"
"Diana…" He glared. Everyone stood in an awkward silence for a moment before he started laughing and hugged his much shorter sister, picking her up so her feet dangled. She looked uncomfortable, yet amused as she pat him on the back. "It's been too long."
"Much." She smiled. Apollo turned to his daughter and grinned widely, scooping her up in a hug.
"And how's my little girl?!" He shouted spinning her around.
"Daaadddd." She groaned, but laughed besides herself.
"I've missed you, Kay." He said, putting her back down. She smiled in response, but before she could say anything, Will grabbed her by the wrist.
"Let's go choose our rooms!" Will said, dragging her up the steps.
One afternoon later that week, Will found himself in a packed ice cream parlor on the boardwalk, waiting for Kayla to come back from the bathroom. He scooped up a piece of ice cream soaked banana from his banana split. He heard the bell on the door ding and glanced behind him to see who entered. A boy his age walked in, wearing all black and with knotted hair.
"Hey, Reyna." He greeted the cashier, leaning on the counter.
"Back to the vacation home, I see." The girl smiled.
"Of course." He smirked. "Anyway, everyone's waiting for me outside, we just need our usual order."
"So one mint chocolate chip with gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles, one cookie dough with chocolate sprinkles and brownie chunks, one blueberry pie topped with blueberries, very berry jam, and skittles, but only the blue ones, one caramel apple with nuts and strawberries, one coffee chocolate chip with caramel and… graham cracker (?), and one death by chocolate with brownie chunks and hot fudge, each in the biggest size possible and with a cherry on top." The girl, Reyna, recited, looking very focused. "Did I get everything that time?"
"Nope, Annabeth gets cake crumbs, not graham crackers." He sighed, feigning disappointment.
"Damn, I always mess up her order." Reyna said, snapping her fingers. "Anyway, it'll be out in... you know, Nico, I'm not even gonna lie anymore, it's gonna be a while, you might as well take a seat- if you can find one at least."
"Thanks." He quipped sarcastically. He turned around and started looking for a seat, of which there were none, save for Kayla's empty spot, and the extra chair that Kayla left her bag on.
"Hey, we've got a spare seat if you need somewhere to sit." Will said, gesturing to the guy, who was presumably named Nico, to have him sit down. He smiled awkwardly and took a seat, politely moving Kayla's bag from one seat to the other. Will held out his hand. "I'm Will."
"Nico." He replied, accepting the handshake.
"I couldn't help but overhear your, uh, order." Will laughed. Nico chuckled lightly.
"Yeah, that. I've got needy friends, and I've got a lot." He said. Will smiled. "So what brings you to Jersey?"
"What makes you think I'm not from around here?" Will asked.
"Well, you talk like Forest Gump, your sun damaged face has more spots than there are grains of sand on that beach, your tan looks much too real too be one of us 'Jersey Trash,' and I've been visiting the shore since I was six, I know a tourist when I see one." He remarked. Will couldn't help but chuckle. "So what brings you to the oh so underwhelming state of New Jersey."
"Well, if you must know, I applied to a boardin' school in Newark, and my parents want me to decide if I like Jersey or not before comin'." Will explained.
"You mean MOST?" Nico asked, leaning on his hand. "My friends go there. I've applied, but I doubt I'll get in."
"For what academy?"
"Culinary, you?" Nico asked.
"Healthcare." Will said.
"Oh you're one of those people." Nico joked. Will narrowed his eyes at him.
"What do you mea-" His voice was drowned out by a loud group of chattering teenagers entered the parlor. They looked around for a moment before making a beeline for their table.
"Nico!" One of them shouted.
"Fuck…" Nico muttered. They all crowded around him, one girl with choppy black hair and more ear piercings than Will could count, wrapped her arms around Nico's neck and leaned down so her head was on his shoulder.
"Hey kid, why is our ice cream taking so long?" She asked.
"It always does, Thals. This happens every year." Nico muttered.
"Who's your little friend?" A tall guy with short silvery blonde hair and glasses asked.
"I'm Will Solace." Will introduced himself.
"I'm Jason Grace." He greeted.
"Percy."
"Annabeth."
"Hazel."
"And I'm Thalia." The girl leaning on Nico's shoulders said. "I'm Nico's favorite."
"As if! I'm his favorite!" Hazel said.
"I'm the only one that listens to the same music as him." Thalia countered.
"I'm his sister!" Hazel fought back.
"Girls, we all know who's Nico's favorite is-" Percy said smugly.
"Me!" Jason interjected. Nico just groaned and let his head fall forward onto the table. Will watch in amusement while eating his ice cream. Kayla walked out of the bathroom but stopped in her tracks when she got to the table, obviously surprised by the hoard of arguing teenagers swarming around a random emo looking kid sat across from her brother.
Will looked up at her, still with a mouthful of ice cream, and gave her a look that simply said "just go with it."
"Would you all just shut up?!" Nico shouted at his friends, who all huffed and quieted down.
"Hi…" Kayla muttered.
"Oh yeah, this is my sister, Kayla." Will laughed. They all chorused greetings.
"Nico your order is ready!" Reyna shouted from behind the counter. She handed them what looked like a cardboard fruit crate with all of the orders. Nico took them and placed them down on the table, pushing back his friends, who were all making grabby hands for their ice cream.
"Coffee chocolate chip."
"Me!" Annabeth called out, taking the order from his hand.
"Blueberry pie."
"Percy!" He shouted out his own name, taking the ice cream.
"Death by Chocolate and Caramel Apple."
"For the Graces!" Thalia said, taking them both and handing the latter to Jason.
"Cookie dough for Hazel, and mint chocolate chip for me." Nico finally finished, handing one to his sister and taking the last for himself.
"So y'all from Jersey?" Will asked.
"Yes… No… Kinda?" Jason muttered. "Thals and I are from up North, Morris County, but everyone else… not so much."
"I'm from California, but I moved to Cape May when I was eight." Annabeth explained.
"I moved here from the city when I was little." Percy added.
"Which city?" Will asked. They all stared at him for longer than could be considered not awkward.
"Like… the city." Nico explained, like what he was saying was obvious. "New York."
"Oh…" Will said quietly.
"I'm from New Orleans." Hazel said, breaking the silence.
"And I'm from Italy." Nico finished.
"What? Really?" Will asked, grinning. Nico nodded.
"I've been living in Jersey since I was six, so you can't really tell, but when I'm tired or mad or something, I slip back into an Italian accent." He explained.
"And it's adorable." Thalia remarked, going back to leaning on Nico.
"He pronounces everything weirdly." Hazel added.
"And he'll curse in Italian too." Jason added.
"I doubt he can tell the difference between the two languages." Percy said.
"It's just one big mesh of words by then." Annabeth finished.
"Why am I friends with you guys?" Nico complained, burying his face in his hands. Will laughed.
"So are you too…?" Will asked, looking at Nico and Thalia. They glanced at each other and made a face, Thalia immediately retreating.
"God no." Nico said.
"We're cousins." Thalia explained.
"And she's 18."
"And he's 14."
"And we're cousins."
"Cousins." Thalia added again for emphasis.
"They're also both gay as they get." Jason said. Nico and Thalia glared at him. Will laughed and boredly doodled on a napkin with a pen, soon enough he was writing numbers down without thinking about it.
"We should probably go. The only reason we're here is that our parents told us to get groceries and we got… sidetracked." Will said as he stood up, handing his mostly empty ice cream to Kayla so she could toss it out in the trash can behind her. He looked down at the napkin he'd drawn on. He'd written his phone number surrounded by a few stars and flowers "You seem cool… I'd love to hang out with you sometime… all of y'all, I mean." He added quickly. He slid the napkin to Nico, feeling his cheeks burn. "Text me." He after that he simply got up and made a beeline out of the parlor, dragging his overly excited sister behind him. As they walked out he heard Percy wolf whistling and them all chattering about how "Nico just got a phone number!" And Will, despite being red in the face, couldn't help smile besides himself.