All week Nico wished he could sit by Will in class, but he was slightly unnerved from all the attention they got just walking to class together. He could feel people's eyes on him as he walked with Will through the halls. It certainly attracted attention, Nico di Angelo walking and talking with someone.
On Thursday Mr. C announced that the first exam of the year would be next week, to a collective groan from the class. Nico wasn't worried though. He already knew most of the material anyway.
The bell rang then, and Will turned in his seat to shoot Nico a smile. Nico was already mostly packed up, but he hung back to talk to Will as the other students left.
"So," Will said as he walked out the door with Nico, "wanna study together? I'm free tonight."
"Okay. We could study at my house."
Will beamed. "Sounds good. I'll meet you by your locker at the end of the day."
Nico felt butterflies fluttering around in his stomach, and he watched as Will waved at him before walking down a different hallway.
Nico made it to lunch barely hearing anything in any of his classes. He couldn't get Will out of his head. He wondered how he would make it through potentially being alone with the boy.
"Hey, does your sister know Piper McLean?" Jason asked.
Nico's head snapped up and he watched as across the cafeteria Hazel took a seat next to Piper. He smiled, knowing what Hazel was up to.
"Yeah, we've known Piper since we were kids. She used to be really close to Bianca," he responded. Nico had told Jason about Bianca two years ago. There was still a note of sorrow in his voice whenever he spoke of her.
"Oh," Jason replied, still staring at them. Nico could almost see the gears in his head turning.
"You know," Nico started, "Reyna's staying after school today for a volleyball game. Hazel will need a ride home. I think Hazel and a couple of her friends were planning to watch the cheer practice after school, but if you don't mind waiting for them I'm sure Hazel would really appreciate it."
Jason lit up. "Of course I don't mind giving her a ride. Do you need one too?"
"Nah, I've already got one," Nico lied. He and Will were both 15, so neither of them drove. But he didn't mind the long walk so long as he got to spend more time with Will.
"Nico di Angelo, did you make a new friend?" Jason seemed much too pleased. Nico just sighed and went back to eating his lunch in silence.
In the afternoon Will went to his Anatomy class. The teacher, Mr. D, announced that their first quiz would be in a week. Will groaned internally. It was on the same day as his history test. Good thing he was getting a start on studying for that tonight with Nico.
Everyone else in the class, even Annabeth Chase, looked worried too. There was a lot of material already and Mr. D was known for being a harsh grader.
During their free work time, Will overheard Clarisse La Rue taunting Annabeth.
"Whatcha so worried about?" Clarisse said. "Gonna skip watching your boyfriend play in the water to study?" she cackled. Annabeth's boyfriend, Percy Jackson, was captain of the swim team.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Some of us take our grades seriously. Have you even started your college entrance essays?" she fired back. Annabeth and Clarisse were seniors, as was most of the anatomy class. Will asked his guidance counselor for permission to take it.
"Already submitted them." Clarisse said proudly. "Chris and I are going to go to college together, whereas you'll probably break up with Jackson because you'll be going to separate schools." Percy wasn't stupid, but Annabeth was ridiculously smart. It was likely that she would end up going somewhere that her boyfriend couldn't get into.
"Doesn't matter where we go, Percy and I will always be together." Annabeth said confidently. Will wished that he had a relationship like that with Nico.
Will frowned as his lab partner, Connor Stoll, spent more time playing with the dissected cat than mapping out the muscles.
"Whatever, Wise Girl. Are you at least going to come watch Chris kick butt in the football game on Friday?" Clarisse's boyfriend was a linebacker on the team.
"Of course," Annabeth said. She and Clarisse had a really weird friendship. Will thought he would describe them as frenemies. They were always competing with each other, yet weirdly supportive. He supposed that Annabeth would get bored without Clarisse around, and that Clarisse just liked to push people's buttons.
Just then, the bell rang and the last hour of the school day was over. Will started packing up, anxious to meet Nico at his locker.
"Hey, um, Will?"
Will looked up to see Annabeth standing next to his desk.
"Hey Annabeth." Will greeted her. He'd never really talked to her before, so he looked at her curiously, wondering what she wanted.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to share notes online. I really don't have a lot of time to study for this quiz but I still want to do well."
"Oh, no problem. I was going to make some flashcards on Quizlet later tonight. I can send you the link when I get it done, if you want."
"That would be great! Thank you! Here's my number," Annabeth quickly scrawled her number on a scrap of notebook paper and handed it to him. "I totally owe you one, thanks Will."
"No problem." He said with a smile.
She rushed out of the classroom and Will looked at the clock. He was totally running late to meet Nico. He quickly grabbed his books and ran out of the classroom.