"NICO!"
I jerked awake to the sound of my step-mom screaming my name.
What did I do now? I thought furiously.
"You didn't sweep the floor as I asked you to!" Persephone continued.
I got out of my warm bed, mumbling profanities.
"I'm sorry Persephone." I shouted down to her, pulling on a random black shirt and jeans, "I'll do it right now."
I pulled on some socks and ran downstairs without even bothering to do my hair. I walked into the kitchen to see Persephone wiping off the counters. She put down the sponge and looked me dead in the eye.
"Nico, I understand that you miss Maria, but you can call me mom. You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable, but it would mean a lot to me if you did. I know that I can never replace her, and I'm not trying to, but I'd like you to know that I'm here for you."
"Yeah, okay. I'll keep that in mind." I answered, looking down and grabbing the broom.
Persephone is a pretty cool person. She is pretty, kind, and very motherly. She's not at all mean to Nikki, Hazel, and me but she is also not mom. Don't get me wrong, anyone would be lucky to have her as a mother, but to me, she always seemed like a replacement. I always felt that by calling her mom I would somehow offend my actual mom.
Wait. I haven't talked about what my family looks like.
Well, let's start with my father, Hades di Angelo.
He is tall (about 6'5), with long, midnight black hair, and a very pale complexion. He ran his father's old business so he almost always wore a black suit. He has dark brown eyes, almost black, that have a thinner size, that make him seem like he's always glaring. He's a pretty scary dude, but don't let that fool you, he is actually very kind, supportive, and is always helping people in need.
Next, let's talk about mom. My actual mom.
Maria di Angelo was pretty darn short (hardly passing 5'4), with long brown hair, and olive skin. She was completely unemployed, and she usually wore her white apron over pants and a T-shirt, the apron was almost always worn because she was almost always cooking. She was an unofficial chef and baker, and she only cooked for fun. She was amazing, too. She had round, brown eyes, and she almost always looked happy and at peace, and she almost always was.
Now it's time for my other mom.
Persephone is a tall woman (6'3), with shoulder-length blonde hair, and she has very tan skin. She is very different from everyone in our family. She wears a lot of dresses and skirts, but when doing chores she usually wears jeans and a T-shirt. She has pretty blue eyes, and she always looks excited about something, and she usually is (she's one of those people who celebrate literally everything).
Let's talk about Bianca now.
Bianca di Angelo was the spitting image of my mom, except for her pale skin. She was about 5'7 and she usually wore pants, converse and a shirt, with a green rasta cap. It was pretty weird that she had one in the first place, but hey, she was unique. Her eyes matched mom's and she was also very happy and positive. No matter what was happening in her life, she was always positive and had hope that everything would get better.
Let's talk Hazel now.
She is also very short, just passing 5'3, with cinnamon, curly, very wild hair, and dark creamy skin. She is much more girly than Bianca was and wore very girly clothes. She had almond-shaped, gold eyes, and she always looked very serene.
Moving on to Nikki.
Nicole Maria di Angelo is very short (5 feet flat), with long midnight black hair, and olive skin. She loves black. She always has, and I'm pretty darn sure she always will. Her wardrobe consists of very dark colors and nothing girly. She has eyes that match our father's, except hers change colors. When she's around strangers, they are a very dark brown, when she's around people she hates, they are black, and when she's around people she likes, they are the same color as milk chocolate. Like our dad, she looks pretty scary when you first meet her, but once you really get to know her, she is an amazing, kind, and hilarious person (well, hilarious if you have dark and sarcastic humor like me).
Now let's talk about me. Nicolas Hyperion di Angelo.
I am also pretty short (5'6), I have dark black hair that is always hanging over my eyes and pale skin. I also love black, and wear it every day. Pretty much everything in my closet is black. I have the same eyes as Nikki, but mine go by emotions. When I'm happy they are chocolate brown, when I'm sad they are very dark brown, and when I'm angry they are black. I've been told that I also look pretty scary, yet I am really nice, and I guess that it's true.
Now that you know the basics of my family, we can move on.
"Hey, Neeks!"
I slammed my locker in surprise and turned around to see Jason laughing his head off.
"Jeez bro, who would have thought that you would get scared so easily." He panted, still trying to stop laughing.
"Shut up you idiot," I said, rolling my eyes and turning around to open my locker again.
Jason is six feet tall, with blonde hair, glasses, and blue eyes. He is a pretty normal dude and is like a brother to me.
When he finally stopped laughing he opened his locker right next to mine and pulled out his books.
"So…what's up with you?" he asked, clearly wanting to ask me something else.
"Nothing much, you."
"Fine," he started, obviously not caring much about my answer, "A little birdie told me that you have a new crush."
Well, that's not good. Just play dumb.
"Oh really? Who?"
"Nikki. She told me that you said something about thinking a certain blonde fellow was hot." he smirked, "Could it possibly be the male that you were making goo-goo eyes at all week?"
She's such a traitor!
I felt my face start to warm and tried to push down a blush.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't stare at anyone!" I snapped.
"Yeah, sure." he deadpanned.
I huffed in annoyance.
"Let me get this straight. Or, not straight." he snorted at his dumb pun, "You're telling me that you haven't been staring at Will Solace for the past four days and that you most definitely don't have a crush on him?"
"Yep," I said, popping the p.
"Well that's strange," he said, staring at my nose.
"What?"
"Your nose should have grown long enough to stab me with how big of a lie you just told."
"You're insufferable."
"Thank you." Jason grinned.
"Let's get to class, you idiot. The bells about to ring."
Jason nodded and we started to walk to science.
"Nikki! I'm going to KILL YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs when I walked into the house.
She was already home because I stayed after school waiting for Jason to finish taking a test.
"What did I do?" She asked as she walked down the stairs.
"You told Jason about Will!" I yelled.
"No. I didn't tell him about Will. He already knew. I just confirmed it." she explained.
"I'm still mad at you. He kept bringing it up in front of me today." I told her.
"I know. I saw. It was hilarious."
"It was annoying. And insanely distracting. I almost made our chemistry project blow up!"
"See. Hilarious. Do you realize how funny it would have been if you had blown up your entire table?" She asked.
"Shut up Nikki." I sighed.
"Fine. I'll tell him to stop. But only if you tell both of us how you feel about Will."
"No way! That would be suicide. Jason can't keep a secret to save his life."
"Okay. Suit yourself." she deadpanned, walking past me into the kitchen.
"Whatever," I said, walking up the stairs to my bedroom.
It'll be fine. You can handle a few days of teasing from them. Eventually, they'll get bored and move on to something else, and you won't have to tell them that you do like Will. Everything will be fine. Wait, do I like Will? I definitely think that he's hot, but do I have a crush on him?
As much as I tried, I couldn't convince myself that this would be the case, I kept thinking that they wouldn't stop bugging me until I really told them, but I can't tell them.
Little did I know that telling them would have saved me from a lot of suffering.
