I feel really bad for not updating, but real life got in the way. I didn't even have time to write anything and now I have no chapters left. Well, seems like I have to write today then...

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Quinn from the Moon: :D. Also, not really much. It has more charcter development for some of the other people

Matt: Yes, she does. How you will learn later on.


Chapter 12

After eating lunch on the tables outside the cafeteria, the 10th graders were expected to come to the parking lot, where three yellow school buses stood.

Paul and Akemi were chatting happily about the trip, as they lead the way. Gina and Betty were following them a bit behind, Betty still confused, as to why Gina was suddenly hanging around them. Nico considered just bolting, but one of the chaperones was his teacher in History, so he already knew, that Nico was there. If he didn't want detention again, he should go.

"You look like somebody just died", commented Paul suddenly.

Nico frowned, but didn't say anything. He looked completely different when somebody just died.

"Hey, you wanna go to the movies on Friday? 'Thor' just started last week and I would really love to see it", asked Akemi, having turned around and was now walking backwards.

Nico still wasn't really sure, what to make of Akemi's behavior in History. She seemed to have a connection to the mythological world, but Nico wasn't sure which one. If she was indeed a demigod, then that wouldn't make sense. He knew every demigod in Camp Half-Blood and he was pretty sure they knew him too. She couldn't be Roman because she didn't have any tattoos on her forearm. They weren't allowed to leave in the middle of the year anyway. So, yes, Akemi was a little mystery.

"I would like to go, waited ages for that movie", Paul said excited.

Akemi smiled at him and turned to Will and Nico.

"I guess? Why not", said Will.

He had a smile plastered on his face, but underneath he looked like he had no idea, what 'Thor' was.

"Don't you have a date on Friday?", asked Nico.

Will blushed bright red, the other two looked at him confused.

"That's not a date!", he nearly yelled, then stopped when Nico started laughing.

"You're stupid", he grumbled and started walking again.

"What are you talking about?", asked Paul, looking from Nico to Will.

"Some Riley-girl asked him to come to her party"

"Riley?", came a new voice from behind them. It was Betty. "She always has the best parties. It's a big honor to get invited to one, I myself have only been like once"

"We all wanted to know that so desperately", muttered Nico, quietly enough for Betty not to hear.

Akemi caught it anyway and grinned at him.

"Okay then", said Paul. "Let's go before the buses are all gone"

Nico wished they were long gone, but no such luck.


"You don't want to be here", observed Akemi, when they walked towards the big building.

"How did you know?", Nico asked sarcastically.

"I can understand, it's stupid from the teachers to force us to walk around, showing of our bodies, when some students aren't comfortable with theirs."

Nico was still impressed how good Akemi was at reading people. She looked him up and down.

"But I don't think you've got anything to worry about", she said, giving him an encouraging smile.

That didn't help. It wasn't the build of his body he worried about.

They entered the building, the humid air making it hard to breathe normally.

"See you later", Akemi said, skipping of towards a door on the right, following a group of giggling girls.

Paul appeared next to Nico, babbling about Hades knows what. He dragged him off towards the door on the left. Nico thought about telling the teacher, that he didn't have his stuff with him, but he saw him nowhere, so there was nothing Nico could do except changing into his black swim trunks.

He stared down at the thin white lines going up and down his torso. Whenever he went swimming in the lake at camp, they didn't bother him. Everyone in camp had some. But here he would be the odd one out. He didn't want to know what some of the mortals were going to think when they saw his scars.

He stopped at that thought. Since when did he care what other people thought about him?

He decided to not care. It was his body and he was fine with it, to Tartarus with the opinion of some mortals. They should try to go through two wars without getting a scratch.

With new confidence he left the small changing room, heading out towards the pool. On the way there he ran into Will, who was chatting with Gina. Gina was more focused on Will's chest, to actually listen. Nico couldn't blame her, Will did look good. Tan, with a nearly perfect six-pack, blonde messy hair, freakishly tall and those annoying blue eyes. Not to forget the freckles that were literally everywhere.

Will turned towards Nico, grinning like crazy.

"I'm not sure I want to know what's up", the son of Hades told him.

Will let out a small laugh. Gina could finally detach her eyes from Will's body, looking over at Nico, who had his arms crossed in front of his chest.

She eyed his werewolf scratches for a second, before saying: "Will I get hot too, now that I'm part of the mythological world? Or is that reserved for demigods?"

Will burst out laughing at Nico's baffled face. Gina scowled at him, thinking it was directed at her.

"What?", she snapped "That was a legitimate question"

"It's not that.", Will told her, still snickering. "Your fa-face"

He doubled over, clutching his stomach, laughing. Gina turned back to Nico, who was still staring at her weirdly.

"What?", he asked, completely confused.

Gina started giggling too, ignoring Nico. Nico huffed, slightly red in the face.

"I'm gonna find Paul", he told her, ignoring Will who was now laying on the wet floor.

Paul was in the swimming hall, sitting next to Akemi on a bench. Akemi was wearing a bright red bikini with white polka dots, Paul had on dark blue swimming trunks. Both looked up when Nico arrived. Before they could say anything the two teachers arrived and rounded the students up around them. Shortly they explained some rules. No running on wet floor, no dunking other students, no pulling on clothes, no fighting. The usual. Then they were allowed to do what they wanted.

In an instant the huge group of teens split up. Some girls ventured to a group of deck chairs, others were starting a game of water ball, some boys started pushing each other into the water and a different group of pupils was having a water fight. All in all, they were all enjoying the trip to the pool.

"Oh, oh I want to jump down from there!", Will exclaimed, startling Nico a bit.

He looked where the son of Apollo pointed. "No"

"But-"

"No. I'm not jumping from the diving platform"

"Pleeeeeeeaseeee". Will gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"You can jump down there on your own. Without me"

Will sighed. "Fine" He pouted.

"Go ahead. Hopefully you break your neck", Nico said, turning away from him, still a bit angry at Will.

Will perked up. "That rhymed!"

Nico rolled his eyes. Leave it to Will to notice that. Paul had his 'I'm weirded out by you'-look on his face, Akemi just raised an eyebrow. Nico noticed that Gina wasn't with them. He looked around a bit, searching for her. He found her together with Betty and some of their other friends lounging in the bubbly water at the side of the pool. When he turned back towards his friends, he noticed that Will and Paul were gone.

"They are at the diving platform", explained Akemi without being asked. "What do you wanna do?"

Nico shrugged, not having the slightest idea. Akemi grinned, grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the diving platform. Instead of going up, they waited downstairs.

Suddenly one of the boys in the pool got an idea: "Diving tournament!"

Some voices yelled their approval.

"That's going to be interesting", muttered Akemi, pulling Nico out of the way, as a horde of teens came running past them.

That was the second rule broken. Nico was sure it wouldn't take long for the others to be forgotten too.

Will leaned over railing on the 5m platform, the second highest, Paul was on the 3m.

"What are the rules?", he yelled down.

Paul looked up at him like he was crazy, which he probably was. Nico still wasn't sure about that.

The boy whose idea it had been looked thoughtful for a minute. Then he said: "Different categories and rounds. Every round the worst five get voted out. We start with the 1m platform and get all the way higher until the 7,5m"

He looked proud of himself. The others roared in approval.

"Who is the judge?", asked a girl, standing at the back of the group.

"We can do that", said a voice.

Everyone turned towards Hannah, who was standing in a group of girls. They all had too much make-up on for somebody who wanted to go swimming. Or every normal person in general. Their bikinis all looked a size too small and some of them looked around in disgust.

Some of the boys muttered in agreement, while most of the girls protested, saying that Hannah wasn't a fair judge.

"How about I'm judge?", spoke Akemi, drawing all the attention to the two of them.

"You two?", asked a boy.

"What about 'I' don't you understand?", asked Nico.

Some of the group chuckled at that, the boy looked taken aback.

"Oi, Nico! Stop scaring the kids!", yelled Will from the top of the platform.

Now all of them looked angrily at Will, while Nico just shook his head sadly. Will was hopeless.

"Back to the topic!", snapped Akemi.

Hannah gave her a disgusted look. "No-one wants you as judge, geek"

"Children, please, stop fighting", pleaded the female chaperone.

Everyone ignored her.

"Piss off, Hannah. No-one wants you here.", said Gina, having come over to see the contest.

"Does it look like I want to be here?", Hannah asked her.

"Well maybe you should to start coming to fucking school, then. It's your fault you have to repeat every year thrice", Gina shot back.

Hannah gasped. Her 'friends' shot her a look, before giggling.

"Burn", muttered one of them.

"Oh shut up, Spacegirl, it's not like your are anything special", Hannah scoffed.

That seemed to hit a sore spot, but Gina quickly covered it up. For a second she looked ready to punch Hannah, then she straightened up. She stomped towards Hannah and looked her straight in the face.

"That's where you're wrong, Gordon. I'm more special than you will ever be", she hissed.

Then she shoved her backwards. Hannah stumbled over a shadow on the floor, which was there by total accident, and landed with a SPLASH in the water. What attracted most of the attention, however, was Gina herself, looking angry and holding Hannah's bikini top. How she got hold of it no-one knew exactly, not even Gina herself apparently. (Nico later learned, that Gina held Hannah at the band which was really loose). Abruptly Gina whirled around and stomped towards the exit. Dumping the bikini top in a trash can next to it, she disappeared from sight.

It was silent for a second, then Hannah's started screaming in the water. No-one made any move to help her, not even her 'friends'.

Finally the female chaperone ran towards her and Hannah wrapped herself in a towel, before fleeing from sight. At once the whole swimming hall erupted in howling laughter. Will nearly fell from the platform, which is why Nico chuckled too. Not because of Hannah. That wasn't even that funny.

The other teacher tried to calm them down, but didn't succeed. In the end he sat down and read a book.


SPLASH.

Nico was showered with water, as a big girl made a jump from the 3m platform. They were currently competing in the category 'Big Bang', the first of three.

You had to jump down, landing in a way, that made the loudest sound and biggest water shower. Right now, the girl was having really good changes. They had decided to only jump from the 3m and 1m platforms, because everything higher wasn't made for these kind of jumps. It would hurt too much and could be dangerous.

Betty, Brad, Nico and Akemi sat on the poolside, feet dangling in the water. Somehow they had gotten Nico to be judge too.

Will was coming over to them, having been voted out in round two. Paul was still competing. Even with his small body size he could make them all wet.

Some of the other students where cheering on a girl out of the popular clique. She was climbing the stairs towards the platform. Up there she took a deep breath, before starting to sprint. With a squeal she catapulted herself into the air. Nico was showered in water again, shaking his head to get the water out of his hair.

"Take her into the next round", said Betty.

Brad shook his head. "I'm for Pippa for the next round"

Akemi nodded and looked at Nico. "So three votes for Pippa and one for Jenny. Pippa it is"

Akemi stood up, calling for some silence. She shortly named everyone who was in the next round, then sat down again.

Will sat down next to Akemi. The first one of the students was on top of the platform already, preparing for his jump. It went on like that for a while, until the winner, Pippa, was proclaimed. The girl was bouncing around happily, her friends celebrating with her. Some of the others grumbled about her, but no-one said anything bad, which was good.

Betty stood up. "Next round is 'Tumble Tumble'. Whoever makes the best somersaults wins. Round one is 3m."

"I'm so winning that", proclaimed Will, jumping up and running towards the platform. He slipped on the way, face-planting on the floor. Nico winced at that. Will didn't let that stop him, though, as he stood up again and walked a bit slower.

The first few jumps weren't that impressive. One landed flat on his back and everybody winced. His concerned girlfriend swam over, comforting him.

Jenny was second to last, getting ready to sprint again. She performed a perfect somersault, followed by a half-turn, before landing in the water.

"She is a gymnast", explained Betty to the other three.

"I would have nothing against a gymnast in my bed", Brad sighed dreamily.

Akemi shot him a disgusted look and Nico rolled his eyes. Why were teenagers always so immature?


About two hours and a full out water fight with half the students (where some of the guys lost their clothing in and so the last rule was broken) later, Nico stood outside the swimming pool, waiting for Jules-Albert to pick them up. It would have been easier, if they had their car there and not parked outside their apartment building.

Will was constantly looking after something, but Nico didn't ask what it was. The first two times he had been ignored.

He let himself fall on a low stone wall and started playing with the hem of his shirt. Will groaned in frustration.

"What is it?", Nico asked, again.

"She's not here", Will sighed and sat down.

"She?"

"Gina. I'm worried about her. What if she gets expelled or something?"

Nico frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"It wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do, even if Hannah totally deserved it."

"You found it hilarious", Nico pointed out.

Will shot him a look. "You were laughing too. Anyway, some people might not like it, Hannah's parents for example, and would like to see Gina punished. The Gordons are a rich family with people in the school board"

"How do you even know that?"

"I actually listen to the people around me", Will said.

"You mean, you like to gossip"

"That, too"

Jules-Albert chose that moment to drive on the parking lot. He came to a stop right in front of the boys.

"Finally", Nico said and jumped up.

He desperately wanted to get somewhere warm. The water had sucked any body warmth he ever possessed out of him.