I was grounded, sorry for the long wait!
The time had come. After long months of yelling, fighting, arguing, shadow traveling, hiding, and generally kissing up to everyone he could imagine, Nico was sent to school. To make the matters worse, he not only had to go to high school, but high school with Jason, Percy, Frank, Leo, Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel. He didn't mind them being there, per say. Nico would have just felt a bit easier, if he did not have almost every class with one of the seven.
Thankfully, everyone quickly found their cliques and hangouts. Annabeth stayed with the "real" nerds and stayed in the library, Piper was a surprisingly good artist, who loved painting. Jason was not a football player, much to Nico's dismay, but he was, as Nico suspected, popular, especially with the ladies. Leo was as single as a Pringle, because he was holding out for a special lady he promised he'd come back for one day. (Not that anyone actually knew who or what Leo was talking about…)
Like most children of Hades, Nico was alone, but he liked it that way. He didn't need to be around people to make him happy, like other people.
Every one of the seven managed to balance homework/social life/sleep well, thanks to Annabeth calculating the best schedules and times for how and what everyone would be studying.
'No one is going to fail on my account,' she'd informed everyone on their way to school on the first day.
Her plan worked, as usual, making everyone so much happier. The only person who seemed to struggle was Hazel. Nico saw it every passing day.
"Hazel," he whispered during breakfast one morning. "You look tired. Are you okay?"
She was clearly not okay. Her curly hair was tangled and unmanageable, eyes drained from lack of sleep, her clothes dirty and hung awkwardly around her thinning frame. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just tired." She didn't even bother to look Nico in the eye.
Later that afternoon, he saw her in the hallway, pulling her aside. He helped her regain her posture, helping her look like normal.
"There," he said, smiling softly. "Now you look like yourself. You sure you're okay?"
She smiled and kissing Nico's forehead. "I'm okay. I feel golden." They both smiled, laughing at their inside joke, before going back to their regular day.
It was not too long after that when finals were just around the corner. It was then that Nico realized what was wrong with his loving sister.
He followed her one day around school, shadow traveling, staying out of sight. She was having a hard time in class, even with the teachers who were usually understanding of kids with ADHD and Dyslexia. It didn't help that she was pushed to the back of the classroom, where all the bad kids were.
The way some of those kids behaved was so inappropriate, Nico thought Hazel was going to faint.
His anger only began to raise inside him, when this idiot started harassing Hazel. He was throwing things at her and whispering disgusting, perverted things in her ear. At that point, Nico was ready to cut him open with Stygian Iron, but he remained as calm as he could. He didn't want to start a scene in class.
The teacher, Ms. Elise, started asking the students questions to review for the final. "Hazel, what is the fifteenth amendment?"
She struggled, tugging on her hair, biting her lip, and stuff like that.
"Well?" Ms. Elise asked after a few minutes.
"Uh… I can't remember," she whispered.
The boy next to her laughed. "Stupid."
That was when he lost any self-control he had. The fight continued out in the hall, where all seven were trying to divide the two boys. Percy tried calming Nico down, but ended up getting sucker-punched. He was unable to think—Nico just reacted, fighting wild from anger. Nico nearly snapped the guys neck. The school had to call six policemen, when Nico's skeleton army, or "gangbangers", got involved. That didn't stop Nico, though. No, this boy was going to pay for hurting his sister. It wasn't until the "superintendent" came, warning Nico he'd be grounded to the Underworld with his stepmom and her mother, forced to eat cereal, and a visit from the goddess of peace, Eirene, herself, that Nico and the boy was separated.
And even that was with reluctance.
A week later, Hazel was put in easier classes, Nico was expelled, and news of what happened to the boy spread around school.
The guy, Kyle, had a broken leg, broken hand, dislocated both his shoulders, and needed a sever surgery of some kind.
Even though Nico was no longer at Goode High, most boys stayed away from Hazel, fearing Nico's return. Little did they know Nico never truly left, shadow traveling and staying hidden with Hazel every day.
I swear on the Styx to protect you, sister. I'm not going to willingly let you go, he silently swore just before she saw him, smiling, before returning to her test.
La familia.