Will slapped Cecil's hand away from his stack of pens. It was mid-morning on their first day of sophomore year, and his best friend was already testing his patience. He was trying to keep his attention on what the teacher was saying by carefully filling in his planner as she walked them through the syllabus, but Cecil seemed determined to throw off his color-coding system. Lou Ellen was on the other side of Cecil, trying to stifle her laughter. Will had missed her over the summer. He and Cecil were some of only a dozen non-boarding students at New Athens Prep Academy. Most of their classmates lived in the school dorms during the semesters and spent summers with their families. Lou Ellen had flown in just last night, and had been filling them in on her summer spent touring Europe between classes. The only summer highlight Will and Cecil could offer was that the 24-hour diner in town added a new milkshake flavor.
Will didn't let it get to him though - he knew that he was lucky to be at the school in the first place. New Athens Prep had an agreement with the surrounding school districts that they would waive the tuition fee if local students met their academic requirements. Most of the kids Will and Cecil had grown up going to school with were now attending the public high school in the next county over. Will had decided at a young age to become a doctor, and the local high school only had one AP science class compared to New Athens Prep's offering of more than 30, in addition to some IB courses. Besides, Will idolized his older brother, Michael, and he had gone to the school before joining the Marines. Before he was killed on-duty last spring.
The bell for lunch rang and everyone began to pack their bags as their teacher reminded them that they had to read two chapters and a write a reflection for Wednesday. The three of them walked toward the student lounge, Lou Ellen detouring through the cafe to buy lunch. Will and Cecil found their usual table and sat down to eat. Will glanced up in time to see his sister, Kayla, walk through the archway. She was wearing a deer-in-headlights look similar to what Will was sure he had on his first day last year. Will had been completely overwhelmed by the differences between the small middle school they went to with 20 kids in each grade compared to this place, with its grand brick buildings and hallways lined with glass cases displaying trophies and four times as many students. Will was about to wave Kayla over when Lou Ellen nearly ran into her, then grabbed her bag strap and pulled her toward their table.
The two girls sat down and Kayla sighed. "I got lost on my way to literally every class so far." Lou Ellen patted her shoulder gently before opening her bag of chips.
"Did anyone else from your grade transfer in?" Will asked.
Kayla shrugged. "There's a boy who I went to school with - Jeremy something - but I haven't seen him yet and we weren't really friends." She took a bite of her sandwich and then made a muffled noise and tried to swallow quickly. "Actually, you remember Nico di Angelo? He's in my history class. Maybe they moved back or something?"
Will did remember Nico. They had all played together on Saturdays in the park in town when they were younger - Will and his siblings, Cecil, and Percy Jackson and his cousins: Bianca and Nico. Nico was Kayla's age, talked non-stop, had been obsessed with some card game, and idolized his sister. Bianca had been nice and brave and adventurous, but Will didn't know her very well. He spent most of his time helping Cecil build things or playing pranks on Kayla.
Will remembered the day three years ago when his parents sat them down and told them Bianca had been hit by a car, that she was badly hurt and might not make it. Then, a week after that, putting on his nicest clothes too go to her funeral. They sat near the back of the church but he could see Nico sitting completely still next to his father, Percy in the row behind them sitting between his divorced parents. He saw Nico one more time after that, a Saturday in the park a couple weeks later. Nico was unusually quiet and Percy kept trying to get him to climb trees with them. Then, all of a sudden, he was shouting at Percy - Will didn't remember about what. Michael had been doing homework at a picnic table, half watching them, and ran over to calm Nico down. He called their parents from a pay phone, and ten minutes later a fancy black car picked Nico up. His dad moved them out to California a couple weeks later.
Cecil had asked Kayla something while Will was lost in his memories. "... totally different. Didn't talk to anyone, sort of glared out the window most of the class, that sort of thing. But, I mean, after Bianca…" Kayla looked down and absently picked at the other half of her sandwich.
They all got quiet, except for Lou Ellen, who was looking around, confused. "Who's Bianca?"
Will sighed. "She was Nico's sister, would've been … a senior this year, I think? She was hit by a car a few years ago and Nico and his dad moved away after that. It was really hard for both of them." Lou Ellen just nodded. Will couldn't help but remember the few months after Michael died. Even though he hadn't been living at home anymore, his absence was palpable. Everything felt alien.
Their table fell into a tense silence, everyone thinking about Bianca and Michael and the helplessness that came with unexpected deaths. A loud whistle on the other side of the lounge snapped them out of the moment. Percy Jackson was standing up and waving toward the door. Will glanced over and saw Nico, same messy black hair and olive-toned skin Will remembered, glaring daggers at Percy, who seemed oblivious to Nico's irritation. Nico sighed and made his way toward him anyway, sitting down between Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood.
Lou Ellen used the interruption as an opportunity to steer the conversation toward a brighter subject, turning toward Kayla and asked about her teachers for the semester. Will tuned them out and studied Nico. Will always found the similarities and differences between family members interesting. Nico and Percy seemed to have almost opposite personalities, but some of their mannerisms were identical. The messy black hair too. Will wondered if Nico and his dad had moved back, or if he was staying in the dorms. Will vaguely remembered Nico and Bianca having the newest video games and getting dropped off at the park by a car that looked expensive, but apart from that Will didn't have any idea what their dad did or if they were the type of family who could afford tuition and boarding there.
Will tried to see flashes of the excitable 10 year old Nico had been. It was tricky - at the moment he was sinking lower into his seat and rolling his eyes at something Percy said. Will wondered how much of the change was from Bianca's death … but then supposed that something like that was so huge that you couldn't really isolate its effects. He didn't think that Kayla was all that different, really, but she was more cynical, quicker to cry or get angry since Michael died. Will envied her sometimes, how open she was with her emotions, but he had also seen the heartbreak in his mother's eyes when she was comforting Kayla and couldn't bring himself to add to his parents' stress. So, he put on big smiles and saved his real emotions for when he was alone, in the shower or late at night. And some days it felt like he was playing the part of a character called Will, going through the motions and reciting a memorized script, and it all felt empty. But he wasn't sure what he would be like if he didn't put so much energy into acting normal.
Nico looked up sharply and Will realized he'd probably been staring for a while now. He smiled awkwardly and sort of waved - no use pretending he wasn't looking directly at Nico - and Nico just lifted an eyebrow in response and turned away. Will tried to suppress his blush and pick up the thread of whatever Kayla and Lou Ellen were talking about.
"Ugh and he's that dark-and-mysterious type you like, right Will?" Lou Ellen asked, waiting for his response.
"Wha-what? Who?"
"That barista at the coffee shop right off campus - Kayla hasn't ever been there. I was telling her their mochas are almost as tasty as their staff, which is saying something with us being in the middle of nowhere and all."
"Oh, yeah… sure."
Cecil chuckled and picked up his trash. "No, she was talking about our chem teacher who is eternally grumpy and about a hundred years old. And who will give us detention if we're late the first class of the semester so we should probably get going."
