Chapter 3

Nico

"Hi, my name is-"

"Nico di Angelo," the secretary finished for me. "I have your schedule and the rest of your paperwork right here." She shoved a stack of papers into my hands and ushered me out the door. "Have a nice day!" she shouted as I stumbled through the frenzied, overcrowded office. "Thank you, you too." I mumbled sarcastically as I walked into the hallway.

Packing up the house and saying goodbye to my friends took a lot longer than expected, not to mention the six hour detour we took to drop Bianca off at college. And let me tell you, the only thing that sucks more than going to a new school is going to a new school three days late and completely exhausted.

"Um, excuse me," I said to the first group of people I saw. "Can you tell me where room 204 is?" The girl in front looked me up and down, eyeing my black leather clothing. If I hadn't known any better I would have thought she was checking me out, but looking at the disgusted look on her face, I could tell she was judging me.

"Yeah," the girl responded, her nose crinkled in obvious distaste. "It's … over there," she said, waving her hand in the general direction of the stairs. My mind boiled with rage and sarcastic retorts. First she judged me, then she gives me a half assed response? This school just kept getting better.

I grit my teeth and walked towards the staircase that I was so helpfully directed towards. The very shitty, rundown staircase, I thought as I dodged a loose tile. Didn't people pay taxes to fix this shit? Maybe if I complained to my parents enough about how awful this school is, they'll send me home. It was a nice thought, but I knew it would never happen. I could already picture my mom's response, 'You've only been there one day, Nico. Things will get better, just give it a chance.' and then she'd stroke my hair and tell me something real nice like 'Stop being so whiny and feeling sorry for yourself. You won't get any friends if you act like that.' I sighed. I knew my mom (or at least the mom I created in my head) was right. But, I only wanted to be back in my old house with my old friends with Will in my arms. Not, in some shitty, small, judgemental town on the outskirts of my real home.

/Line Break/

"You're Nico di Angelo, correct?" the man behind the teacher's desk asked me.

I nodded, and he smiled in return. "We're very happy to have you, Mr. di Angelo. My name is Mr. Brunner and it looks like I will be your homeroom and first period teacher. Please, take a seat," he said, pointing to a seat in the sea of empty desks. I nodded again and sat down.

I eyed him wearily, looking for any faults in him that I could tell my parents about later. (Hey, just because I know they won't let me leave doesn't mean it isn't worth a shot.) He had kind, brown eyes and wore a worn tweed jacket - something I would personally dub "unprofessional," but it seemed to work well for him. I sighed, already uncomfortable being alone with this teacher and even less excited about meeting my new classmates. I pulled out a book, hoping that if I ignored everyone, they'd all ignore me back.

/Line Break/

"Okay, class, time to settle down," Mr. Brunner said as the bell sounded. I looked up from my book and glanced around the full classroom, sinking a little in my chair. Normally, I'm a pretty confident guy, but being around all those strangers made me nervous.

"Today, we will be starting a project in place of your yearly research paper. The idea will be the same: pick a controversial topic and a side, but instead of writing a paper you will have a partner of your choosing to work with."

Everyone perked up at that last part of his statement, immediately pairing off and talking about what topic to work on. I had never felt so awkward and alone.

"Oh,Nico," Mr. Brunner said, just now noticing my predicament. "Percy Jackson isn't here today so the two of you can be partners. You can start on your project when he gets back, but for now make a list of topics to share with him." I nodded, only half listening to what he was saying.

"Percy Jackson," I thought. What a dumb name.