Hell no!

Chapter 6 Drawing her (Nico)

I woke up really early because I had another nightmare. Bianca died, and then Hazel. I was all alone, but luckily, Hazel walked in to wake me up right that moment and hugged me. She always knew what was going on in my head.

''It'll be okay, Neeks.'' she whispered.

''I know, thanks Haze.'' I whispered back.

''Okay, so get your lazy butt out of your bed and grab your backpack. We're going to have breakfast!'' she said jokingly. So I dressed and went downstairs.

''Hey honey,'' mom said. ''I have an idea, to make us all feel better. After you two get home from school, we're going to Bianca's grave and give her the most beautiful flowers we can find. And of course we'll bring Annabeth and Piper too, you four were Bianca's best friends. How does that sound?''

''I… thanks mom, you always know how to make us feel better.'' I said, and then she hugged me.

After breakfast we got into the bus and when Annabeth and Piper got in, we told them about mom's idea. They thought it was a good idea, so we could tell Bianca about our new school and our new friends.

At school the first two periods were hellish, but doable because I had my friends with me in Spanish and Annabeth with me in Italian, while the other two went to French.

At lunch Lou seemed very happy.

''Hey guys, we were wondering, if you guys want to hang out on Friday afternoon after school.''

''Sure! We can do it at my house, I just have to ask my dad. But he'll probably say yes and we have a lot of space…'' Piper said.

''Sound fun,'' Travis said. Lou and Katie gave them a look before he hastily said, ''And we promise not to prank your dad.''

Piper called her dad.

''Hey dad!'' – ''Yeah, everything's fine. I know, you only have five minutes, 'cause you're at work. I just wanted to ask if I can have some friends over Friday after school.'' – ''Thanks dad.'' – ''No dad.'' – ''Sure, dad, I'll ask them.'' She said. ''Hey guys, want to barbecue Friday?'' We all nodded and Piper went back to her dad. ''Yeah, they said barbecue is fine.'' – ''Okay dad, see you at home.'' We all laughed.

''Well, that's set, now how about hanging out today after school?'' Cecil asked.

I looked at Hazel for support and she answered for us. ''Sorry guys, we can't. We promised our mom the four of us would go somewhere with her today.''

Katie looked at me in concern, and I hope I hid my sadness and stress about it good enough, but I'm not sure…

''Okay, no prob, we'll hang out Friday at Piper's. How are we going to do that by the way?'' Lou said.

''You could just take the bus with us,'' Annabeth said.

''Yeah, sure, we'll do that. Then I'll ask my mom if she can pick us up in the van and drive us home,'' Connor said.

''But maybe we should have your phone numbers, so we can text and stuff,'' Katie said. We nodded and exchanged numbers.

Then we started our lunch, and I saw Frank and Hazel sitting next to each other, eating their sandwiches. They look cute together.

Then I had a double period art with Piper and Katie and we sat together at a table. But unfortunately also Will was in our class. He sat at the other side of the room and didn't seem to notice me.

The teacher was explaining that today's exercise was to draw someone we love a lot and to write on the back of the paper something about that person. Miss A. seemed nice. I made a drawing of Bianca, same as Piper. Katie seemed to notice, and asked us who we were drawing.

''Nico, who's that? She seems… important and looks beautiful, and I see Piper is also drawing her.''

I hesitated, but I decided to trust Katie. She seemed very nice and not like someone to tell secrets to others. I saw Piper looking at me and I decided to tell Katie.

''This is my sister Bianca. She died in the shooting at school a couple of weeks ago.'' I said, while a tear ran down my face. ''She was the girl that talked to the shooter to try and talk him down. But he shot her and I really miss her.''

''Oh, Nico, I'm sorry! I didn't know! Why didn't you tell us?''

''I-I don't like to talk about it, it's hard…'' Piper put a hand on mine to calm me down.

''I miss her too, Nico. We all do. I know you were closest to her, but we all miss her. Luckily we're going to her after school.''

''Come Nico, I don't know her, but I think she'd be very proud of you. Think about that!'' Katie reassured me.

I calmed down and looked at the two of them. ''Thanks.''

We went back to our drawings, but I could tell they were still watching me, to make sure I would be okay.

On the back I wrote about Bianca. This is a drawing of my big sister, Bianca. She was the bravest person I know and she always put others before herself. She was the most selfless and kind person I know. She gave her life to protect others and I miss her, but I'm proud of her, and I hope she'd be proud of me, unfortunately I can't ask her anymore. She was always there for me, to help me with my problems. She gave me good advice and helped me get friends. She also encouraged me to draw, for which I'm very grateful. I will miss her forever and I will never be the same anymore, not after that day…

Five minutes before the lesson would end, miss A. picked up our drawings and walked back to the front of the class.

''Next lesson, you'll get your grade for these drawings. I have seen some I really like, but I'm also grading them according to what you've written about that person on the back. Now pack up your things and you can go.''

I went to my locker with Piper and we waited for Annabeth and Hazel to come from geography to go home. We walked to the bus and got out at the stop near our house. Inside we waited for our parents and when they were here, they had a big bouquet of purple and white roses, Bianca's favourites.

Dad drove to the churchyard and we got out of the car. Then we walked to Bianca's grave, which looked beautiful, even without the stone. We placed the flowers and were silent. Then mom and dad did their little talk, about how beautiful she was, and that they missed her. Then Piper and Annabeth said they missed her. Hazel had a lot of trouble saying it too, and that she hoped she had a good time in heaven. Then I started.

''Hey, Bi, I miss you.'' I said quietly. After a pause if continued. ''Today, I had art class, which you always wanted me to take so I did, as you're my big sister and you know everything. We had to draw someone we loved very much, so I drew you. We also had to explain why we loved that person, so I wrote that you were the most courageous person I have ever known, and that I miss you, and that I hope you're proud of me. I really do hope you're proud of me. I also told one of my new friends, Katie, about you. She's really nice and a really good listener. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I made some new friends. Their names are Lou, Katie, Cecil, Frank, Travis and Connor. We have agreed with them to hang out Friday. They seem nice, and I hope they will become good friends with us. I'll tell you everything this weekend, okay?''

After that, we stayed there for a while longer, quietly. And then we went back to the car and mom drove us back home.

At home we made lasagne and ate it. We told my parents about school. How we'd go to Piper's on Friday with some new friends. Mom and dad were really happy we had made new friends, and asked us to bring them over some time. We told them we would and after dinner mom drove Piper and Annabeth home.

I went upstairs to my room and watched a new episode of DreamWorks Dragons and then made my homework. It wasn't much today, luckily, and I finished it within an hour. I put on my pyjama's and put Bianca's green cap, which had fallen out of my bookcase, back on the top shelf, where I had a picture of me and her and one of the three of us. I also had a stuffed bear she'd gotten me at the fair when I was 12 on the shelf. After that I laid down on my bed and drifted asleep.

AN: Sorry you had to wait, but I just forgot to upload them...

Oh, well, now you have a couple of chapters at once.

AN2: Checked and corrected, like I did with all the others before and to come. Hope it's better now.