Goddess Of Idiots: Ummm...anything I respond with would give too much away, so I'm just going to tell you to read the chapter!

WOW: Thanks.

BooksAndMusicAreMyLife711: He's not going to do another exorcism because he tried it the first time and it didn't work.

bookwormultimate: Thank you. I update every Monday.

Mrs-diAngelo25: Eep. Can't say anything. I was going to put more Bianca in this chapter, but I didn't have time. I'll put it in the next one. You should go look up some of the religious questions on Yahoo Answers. Some of them are so incredibly insulting to religious people.

SummerSpirit18: Wait, what's better than I'll Make a Man Out of You? That's okay, being one of your favorite people is awesome anyway. Ahhh, can't talk about it! And yes, they did. So glad you noticed. Think about that.

Thalicoforever3.14: I update every Monday, I can't manage it any faster than that, sorry. But I'm glad you like it!

ChickWithThePurpleGuitar: Yeah, talking to his friends, funny you should mention that. Read the chapter.

Pacmayne: Thank you!

athousandbooks: This one isn't quite as creepy, but the next one is a little. So...be prepared.

XxYesterdayTodayTomorrowxX: Hahaha, I loved that chapter.

Gragra: Yeah, here's another one. I think, I'm not so good at telling.

SpecialGirlz: Do not compare this story to the Mortal Instruments series. I can't stand that series. People keep telling me how amazing it is, and I just can't stand it. So no, this story is not based on those ones. Sorry if that sounded harsh.

dont get too close: Well that's the point.

I don't own Percy Jackson or Imaginary by Evanescence. I do own Matt Withers, Jacob Anderson, Mrs. Larsen, and Mr. MacLeon.

Chapter 10 – Your Reality

Don't say I'm out of touch
With this rampant chaos - your reality
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge
The nightmare I built my own world to escape
– Imaginary, Evanescence

Nico woke to a bang on his door. The sun hadn't quite risen yet, but New York was never completely dark. It was one of the things he disliked about the city. The lights, the traffic, the noises – it was like he could never get a moment's peace.

"Come on, Nico!" he heard Bianca yell from the other side of the door. "You're going to be late!"

She and his father hadn't mentioned his friends since the first visit back to the doctor, except to ask how his sessions were going, and he knew that was just them trying to make conversation. It seemed harder and harder now. They didn't have much to talk about anymore. It seemed like their entire lives revolved around whether or not Nico was going to get better.

There was nothing wrong with him, and he'd tried so hard to tell them that. But he couldn't make them understand.

He sighed and pushed back the covers. A quick glance at the clock on his nightstand told him that it was 5:40, ten minutes after he was supposed to wake up. Either the alarm hadn't gone off, or he'd slept through it. The latter was more likely.

It was when he sat up that he realized how quiet it really was.

The traffic outside the window was still as loud as ever. Early risers (or not so early risers who had to rise early anyway) were talking and walking below the window. Street vendors who wanted to get a jump start on the day were out there yelling at the passersby to buy whatever it was that they were selling. Faintly he could hear the subway trains squealing on the tracks at the station that they lived so close to.

But inside the room, it was silent. Annabeth wasn't sitting on the windowsill scolding him for leaving his boxers on the floor (which he'd done, again, because she hadn't been there last night to tell him not to). Percy wasn't sitting in the desk chair spinning around and tossing whatever he could find up in the air to catch it with the other hand. Thalia wasn't sitting on the floor next to his closet, with one leg pulled up to her chest and the other stretched out in front of her and her arms crossed, smirking at the other three.

Of course, it wasn't the first time he'd been left to his own devices for a while. Sometimes they weren't around. He didn't know what they were doing when they weren't with him. It wasn't as if they could have errands to run. Or maybe they did. He didn't know.

Nico shook his head. They'd be back eventually. But for the time being, he'd already wasted another five minutes and if he didn't get going he was going to have to walk to school instead of getting a ride with Bianca, who always left early.

He made it into the kitchen with just enough time to grab one of the bagels that their father made them every morning, and then to grab the other because he knew that Bianca was out in the car and would forget to eat if he didn't remind her, and run to the car. Bianca was ready to pull out of the driveway when he hopped into the passenger seat and handed her the extra bagel.

"Stop forgetting to eat," he said, and took a bite of his own breakfast.

Bianca rolled her eyes but took the bagel anyway.

"Did you even sleep last night?" he asked around his bagel. "I didn't hear you go to bed."

"I slept," she answered. Her voice was quiet.

Nico didn't press the issue, even though he could tell she was hiding something.

When they got to school Bianca parked the car and climbed out. "Hey, you're walking home today, unless you want to wait until Zoe and I finish our project."

Nico shuddered. "I'll walk," he said quickly. Bianca and Zoe had been assigned a project in Anatomy on the structures of different animal hearts. They had to dissect the hearts of five different kinds of animals. A few days ago Nico had stayed with them because it was pouring rain and he didn't want to walk home. They had been dissecting a cow heart. It was the most disgusting thing Nico had ever seen – he'd had to leave the room so he didn't throw up.

They walked into the building together and when they reached the stairs they parted ways. Bianca had Civics on the first floor, and Nico had Geometry (God, kill him now) on the third.

He managed to survive Geometry and Mandarin Chinese (which he was probably failing, he should have just taken Italian, he wouldn't have had to study anything and he'd have been able to pass with flying colors). He was heading down to lunch before Biology when he ran into Matt Withers and Jacob Anderson on the stairwell.

Matt Withers was a senior. Technically, at least. He had the maturity level of a ten year old and was taking more than a few remedial classes. According to the kids Nico had heard talking in the halls (to each other, never to him), Matt was what was called a "super senior". It wasn't his first time in senior year. Nico seriously doubted that Matt would graduate this year either. But he was big, bigger than a lot of the guys on the football team. He would have been on the football team, he actually had been in freshman year, but his grades weren't high enough (hence the repeating senior year) and he'd gotten kicked off. Unfortunately, he still liked to keep his muscle training up, and since he couldn't take out his frustrations on the football field, he used people like Nico instead.

Jacob Anderson was a junior, and he was on the football team. Nico thought maybe Jacob could be a good kid if he hadn't started hanging out with Matt. He was smart, maybe not genius level, but he could pull off mostly Bs. No one really knew why he was friends with Matt, but one day they'd just started spending every possible moment of the day together. The next day, Nico had found himself with two tormentors instead of one.

"Hey, look't this," Matt said, grinning. His arms were crossed as if it helped him look more tough (not that he really needed the help, but Nico wasn't about to say that). One of his front teeth was missing, knocked out in a fight a few years before. His shirt was the color of dried blood. It really didn't help Nico's fear.

Jacob snorted. "Where you off to, fagot?"

"I'm not a fagot," Nico mumbled, but he didn't sound convincing even to himself. He wasn't, really, but he was so small and a bit feminine looking, and apparently that made Matt and Jacob think he was. Gay, that is.

Matt reached out and took Nico's shirt in his fist. "Yeah you are," he said, still smirking.

Is that really the best you can come up with? Nico wanted to ask, but as usual his mouth wasn't working. It never was around these two. Maybe that was why they targeted him.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Jason asked in a high, mocking voice. "Oh, that's right, you don't have one. 'Cause no one wants you."

"'M not the only one," Nico found the courage to say.

Matt shook him hard. "What'd you say, fagot?"

"I'm not the only one," Nico repeated, louder. He didn't know where this was coming from, but he plowed on. "You guys spend so much time together, there's no way you're not fucking."

He didn't think about it then, with all the adrenalin pumping through his blood, but they should have been there. Thalia, at least. They always showed up when Matt and Jacob were harassing him. They were the ones who made sure he didn't say anything stupid. Like he just had.

Matt's face turned livid. He drew back his fist and hit Nico across the face, letting go of his shirt at the same time so that Nico fell flat on his back. "We're not the ones who like it up the ass," he said, giving a well-aimed kick to Nico's right side.

Nico coughed and lifted himself up onto his elbows, ignoring the searing pain in his ribs and the taste of blood in his mouth. He cursed the damn stairwells. They'd picked the perfect place to do this. There were cameras everywhere, but the ones in the stairs couldn't see the landing between the second and third floors. "Oh come on," he panted. "Everyone knows it."

Jacob knelt down, lifted Nico up by his collar, and slammed his head into the floor. "Shut your fucking mouth," he hissed.

"You afraid I'll tell?" Nico asked. Part of his brain was screaming at him to shut up, but he ignored it. His vision was blurry and Jacob seemed to be swimming in front of his eyes.

Matt kicked him again, hard, and Nico rolled towards the stairs. "Shut up!" Matt yelled, and kicked him again. This one sent Nico down the ten steps to the second floor.

There was a clacking of high heels and a second later a woman rounded the corner. "What is going on here?!" she demanded, before seeing Nico lying on his stomach on the floor. He was breathing hard and trying not to cry. His face was pressed into the floor and he was breathing in dust and dirt, but his ribs hurt and he didn't want to move. His forehead was bleeding. God, why was he so stupid? He shouldn't have said anything. He could have gotten away fine.

The teacher, who Nico now recognized as Mrs. Larsen the Spanish teacher, knelt down in front of him and helped him roll over and sit up. Then she glanced up to glare at the two boys above them.

Nico didn't think he'd ever seen Matt Withers or Jacob Anderson looked scared, but now they looked terrified. He didn't think they'd meant to hurt him the way they had. But Matt had zero control over his anger. Normally Thalia could stop Nico from talking back to them, because she knew all about Matt's temper and she knew that Nico didn't think things through. But she wasn't there. Where was she? And Percy and Annabeth, where were they?

A tear rolled down Nico's face before he could stop it. He wiped it away quickly, wincing when he touched his sore cheek.

"Matt. Jacob. Stay there," Mrs. Larsen ordered. She turned her attention back to Nico. "Can you walk?" she asked, gently this time.

Nico nodded, and immediately wished he hadn't. His vision swam, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He swore softly, and Mrs. Larsen didn't reprimand him, but he might have said it in Italian.

"Stay here," she said quietly. Nico didn't respond and she didn't wait for him to, just walked away, her heels clacking against the floor.

He could hear Matt and Jacob whispering to each other, but his head hurt too much for him to make out what they were saying. A few minutes later he opened his eyes to see Mrs. Larsen coming back. She looked up at the two boys. "Come here," she ordered, and they wasted no time doing as she said.

"I don't think I really need to ask this. But I'm going to give you one chance to tell me the truth, and I'm sure when Nico is feeling up to it he'll verify your stories. Now, what happened?"

There was a moment of clearing throats before Matt answered. "We hit him."

Nico would have snorted, but he was sure that his ribs wouldn't take kindly to that.

"That's all?"

The boys nodded.

"How did he fall down the stairs? Or did you hit him from up there?"

Matt mumbled something about kicking Nico.

Mrs. Larsen sighed. "I can't say I'm surprised that Matt is involved in something like this. But you, Jacob? I would never have thought you would do this."

"I know," Jacob mumbled. He sounded like he was about to cry.

"You know Coach Emerson won't stand for this. You'll lose your scholarship."

Scholarship?

Nico knew Jacob. Not well, of course, but he knew what Jacob had been like before he started hanging out with Matt. He was one of the most hardworking people Nico knew. And if there was anyone who deserved that scholarship, it was Jacob.

"He didn't do anything."

Mrs. Larsen, Jacob, and Matt all looked down at him. Nico glanced up, locking eyes with Mrs. Larsen. "Jacob didn't touch me." His voice wasn't strong, but in the quiet stairwell it seemed to resonate.

"Nico, don't try to cover for him," Mrs. Larsen said. "If he hurt you, he needs to face consequences."

Nico almost shook his head, but thought better of it and said, "I swear, it was just Matt."

Matt's mouth opened and shut like a fish's, but no sound came out. Jacob looked shocked. Mrs. Larsen sighed. "Alright. Matt, you can go with Mr. MacLeon when he gets here." Mr. MacLeon was their vice principal, and he dealt with all the troublemakers. Nico had a feeling that he'd seen Matt before. "Jacob, you should have said something, so you'll be punished for that. A few detentions with me should do it, I think." She obviously didn't believe Nico, but there wasn't anything she could do without proof. "For the moment, Jacob, you can help me bring Nico to the nurse. Ah, and here's Mr. MacLeon."

As if on cue, Mr. MacLeon was descending the stairs from his office on the third floor. He sighed. "How are you feeling, Nico?" he asked.

"Been better," Nico said. His voice was still breathy, but stronger than it had been.

Mr. MacLeon nodded and put his hand on Matt's back. "Both of them?" he asked Mrs. Larsen.

She shook her head and gestured to Matt. "Come on then, Mr. Withers," Mr. MacLeon said, and began leading Matt up the stairs.

Jacob leaned down to give Nico his hand. When he met Nico's eyes, he mouthed Thank you.

Nico didn't answer. He would have expected his friends to be there. They were always there when he needed them, and he needed them now. But there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that told him they might not be coming back.

"Did you start it?" Hades asked in Italian as soon as Nico had shut the door.

"No."

"Did you hit them?"

"No."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Nico leaned his head back. "I really don't want to talk right now."

"Niccolo, you got into a fight. We're going to talk."

"It wasn't a fight!" Nico yelled, lifting his head up too quickly. It started pounding, but he ignored it. "They called me a fagot, and I said I wasn't the only one. And they started hitting me."

"I thought it was just the one boy."

"It was," Nico mumbled. He turned his head to face the window.

Hades sighed. "What's going on, Nico? This isn't like you."

Nico stared out the window without speaking. A few minutes later, his voice breaking, he said, "They're gone."

"Who?"

"You know who, Papa."

Hades let out a breath. "Really, this time? They didn't tell you to say that?"

Nico looked down into his lap, tears falling down his face. "No. They're really gone. I don't know why, I didn't do anything."

Hades didn't answer, just continued driving through the New York traffic.

I would like to make it very clear that I am not at all homophobic. And Nico is not gay. Some people are just so uncreative that they have to resort to calling people gay. Matt is one of them. We probably won't see Matt or Jacob again, but don't completely count them out. I might bring them back.

I got my midterm scores last week: a 93 in Ancient World, 94s in Trigonometry and Biology, 95s in Algebra II and French, and 100 in American Lit. I have no idea how I managed that.

Everyone do yourselves a favor and go look up Within Temptation's new album Hydra. They did three different collaborations: Paradise (What About Us) feat. Tarja Turunen, Dangerous feat. Howard Jones, and Whole World is Watching feat. Dave Pirner (or Piotr Rogucki for the Polish version). They're all amazing. I preordered the album and it should come tonight.

I'm sorry about the pathetic author's note, I'm wicked tired today. I have no clue why, but I am.

Quote of the Day: "Don't hit your sister with a gummy bear."

Review and go read Along the Way (longest chapter yet!) and look up Hydra!