Nico finally rose from his bed and walked over to the beginner of his misery everyday- the mirror. He sauntered over with dread, he had no idea why he put himself through this; his flaws fully appeared in front of him- no bullshit. No sucking in of the tummy and flexing of the thighs. No hiding his insecurites behind his ribs like an optimist hides their doubts at the end of their spinal cords. Everything revealed...

Nico felt disgusted. He wanted to cry as he gripped the loose skin of his thighs. Elephant legs. Thunder thighs. Fat belly- that's all he could see. Anyone else would think Nico was insane. You cup his pronounced hip-bones in your hands. If he stretched, you could see his ribs as if they were ropes. You could use the sharpness of his collar-bones as a sword. But Nico couldn't see the world between his inner-thighs or his bony wrist or frail limbs. He didn't like his pink, plump lips. "Fish lips". He just wanted to impress...though he never felt impressive.

He tore himself from the mirror after he pinched his thighs for a bit. He was gripping and digging his nails into the spot not it was a pink-ish color turning red and edging burgundy. He liked to think his body was blushing from embarrassment. And they should be. They should be ashamed to be what they

are. Fat and unloved. His pale skin finally became a dark purple. He was satisfied.

He got dressed in his usual attire of a blank V-neck and a pair of skinny jeans from his bed-room floor. He slipped on his shoes and headed down-stairs and heard the sizzling of bacon and eggs- Hazel. He heard the toaster pop with a duo of bagels: his cue to leave the house.
"Nico?" She called after him, but he had already closed the door behind him and was heading to school

x.x.x

He made to the beauty known as Thessaloniki high-school. It wouldn't be so bad if the place weren't so fucking giant. Okay so it held about 4,000 students and was one of the most exclusive schools around...but still. The large palace of generic

girls with a passion for Teen-Wolf and Drake as well as the ever-so pretentious 'nerdy' girls who have their heads up their own asses because they have a 'fandom'-dedicated tumblr account. Their sexualities blurred and no matter how significantly different they were, they all just jumbled together.

The guys weren't any better, to be fair. Long swishy hair or gentlemen's cut. Vans or Converse or some fancy Adidas or Nike's that would probably cost Nico's dad whole pay-check. He didn't really know how to specify... he generalized and bunched togther. He's observant of the world around him until he got lost in his own.

"Nicoo!" He heard a familiar voice call for him, followed by a wolf-whistle. He blushed then turned around. Of course, there was Michael. His tawny-fringed hair. His hair was curved in such a way at the front that kept his bangs over half of his right eye... hair-spray was his life-saver. He had a pennyboard by his side and was surrounded by his group of their 'friends'. Nico sighed and walked over to the usual spot beneath the tree and they all were sat in a circle.

Michael scooted over so he was on Nico's left and Thalia on his right. Thalia was an avid feminist who was cocky...the group loved it. The daughter of the principle being a gothic prick who got drunk with them at school parking lots without hesitation was their favorite type. Her passion for classic horror movies and female-fronted average rock bands that made Nico groan and roll his eyes.

Without a word, Thalia handed Nico a cigarette and he nodded his thanks. A girl with wavy 'Ariel' hair crawled over to Nico and lit his smoke with one of her vintage metal lighters that you needed to flip open. He remembered her as Michael's girlfriend, Alesia. She was always helping people around. She liked shorts with stockings. Next to her was Aias. His shaggy blonde hair caressed his face and he always looked down. He tried to kill him himself twice in a week last year and hasn't tried since...but he was so sad. People always gave him platonic kisses, though. Then Alexius. He was a fucking dream boat and Nico had no idea how they snagged him. He was on the wrestling team and had a brunette quiff and rosy cheeks. But he liked the music that scared his parents so he was automatically accepted. He glared down anyone who gave them a second glance; he was a defender.

The place was filled with it's usual banter of loud laughs and Alesia and Michael speaking quickly in hushed voices. Aius staring at the ground and Thalia and Alexius were in conversation about the original Frankenstein and Nico wished he

wished he didn't exist. He didn't like how he and Michael kind of looked alike except Nico felt like the fat friend. His eyes wandered the front of the schools to people's unofficial cliques. Asians slowly taking over the world with their brains and style. School band kids. Popular girls and guys engulfing themselves in Hollister apparel and selfies. So. Many. Iphone 5's.

He was taken out of his thoughts when the school bell rang, signalling the beginning of class. The group swarmed in different directions before Nico could take a drag from his cigarette, he just stepped on it to put it out. He entered the school hallways to get to his first class: biology.

He saw him as if it were in a movie. They locked eyes. Percy's blue-ish tinted green eyes fell on Nico's wide-eye browns and held them. Nico was frozen in place, but the other boy wasn't. Hand-in-hand with Annabeth-the beautiful genius, god if only Nico were straight- and being surrounded by superiors. Jason Grace and Piper McLean- they were just a really hot couple, regardless. Leo and

Anna...it was interesting how they fell into that crowd. Anna liked books and television shows and Leo liked mechanics and P.D.A.

Percy and Annabeth pecked eachother on the lips to say good-byes as the god-gifted couples separated. Percy in biology with Nico and the others... he didn't care about the others, to be completely honest. Nico walked towards the class Percy and he shared...then Percy shared something else. A grin and a wink as he walked into the class before Nico.