Author's Note: Flashback warning in this chapter. It'll all be in italics.

Note: Thank you to my friend for editing these chapters! I really appreciate it!

Warning: Language, homosexuality (I'll add more along the way)

Disclaimer: I do not own the names "Goode High School" and "Yancy Academy." They're both from Rick Riordan. The characters and stuff are also from Rick Riordan. Just saying.

Ignorance

Author: Loving Healer

Chapter Four: How I Met Your Mother-I Mean My Ex-Boyfriend

When I exited the bathroom, I didn't know what to think when I found myself not being surprised.

It looked as if someone flipped my whole entire bedroom upside down.

"What are you doing?" I raised an eyebrow, leaning against the open doorway as I watched Jason dig through my closet.

He poked his head out from the closet before diving back into my assorted black clothing items. "There isn't even a single sign that you knew Percy!"

"That's what you were looking for?" I sighed exasperatedly. I tugged Jason out of my closet by the shirt and he fell to the floor. I trudged over to a box under my desk that appeared to be very untouched and dusty.

I pulled it out, coughing at the amount of dust now circulating in the air. "Oh my god." I ended having such a coughing fit I had to stop looking at the box itself.

"Wait," Jason paused before crawling over to me. "It's in there?!"

I nodded. "Why didn't you check this box first before releasing a tornado into my room?"

Jason shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I thought that box had, like, your gay porn collection or something. I just thought that was something you didn't want me to see so I didn't bother checking."

"My..." My fingers twitched as I suddenly had the urge to slap Jason across the face. Actually, I had the urge almost all the time.

"What? It's guys' nature, right?" Jason chuckled before pulling the box out from underneath my desk.

"So you have one? Remind me again why I go into your room."

"I don't have one, thanks." Jason flipped open the cap of the box. "I have a girlfriend, so I don't need those things."

I stared blankly at my neighbor. "Right."

He smiled when he saw what was inside. "This is actually pretty cute. The amount of pictures you took with Percy I mean."

I sighed once more, lying on my back against the ground. "Right," I repeated monotonously.

"Why do you hide these anyway? Then again, I can't really see you framing these."

I laughed lightly. "Exactly."

He began delving deeper into the box. I heard a bunch of pictures being shuffled around. I definitely had a ton of pictures in there. I didn't even remember what they were. All I knew was that they all had Percy in it or something.

"Why do you have a seashell in here?"

I rested myself on my elbows as I watched Jason pulling a scallop shell from the box. How it still looked clean was a mystery to me.

"It was how I met Percy," I muttered before collapsing back onto the ground.

"How you met Percy?" Jason frowned. "How did you meet him? I would've known if you guys met at school or something, but I had no idea you guys were dating for two years! Were you trying to purposefully hide it or something?"

I shook my head. "You just never asked."

"You guys showed no sign of knowing each other at school whatsoever."

"You were just never there when I was talking to Percy," I sighed once more. "It wasn't as if we were hiding it from you or anything. You and I were really close back when I was dating Percy, so you never really saw us together." I paused. "Or me in general really."

Jason groaned. "Jeez, I really wish I were as close to you back then as we are now. I can't even imagine you dating someone let alone someone as optimistic as Percy."

I shrugged. "Opposites attract, I guess?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. But seriously, tell me how you guys met."

I chuckled. "Why do you want to know so bad?"

"Because," Jason drawled. "I want to know how people like you two even met."

"People like you two... Is this supposed to have a hidden meaning or something?"

Jason laughed. "You guys are just complete opposites is all. I can't even imagine Nico di Angelo being in love. I mean, Nico di Angelo and love definitely don't belong in the same sentence at all!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say."

"See, that lazy 'I don't care about the world' and 'fuck you guys don't talk to me' appearance doesn't really scream boyfriend material."

I laughed harder than before. "That's true, I'm not going to lie."

"So tell me how you guys met," Jason demanded, turning around so he could face me instead.

"This is probably the most enthusiasm I've ever seen from you," I muttered before clearing my throat. "This may or may not be a long story. I don't know how much I remember."

Jason handed me the shell and I twirled it around with my fingers.

"I don't remember what I was doing. I think I was sad and lonely because I just didn't have any friends and I lost my family." I shook my head, keeping my gaze on the shell. "I'm not sure what I was doing, but all I remember is I was at the beach and no one was really there because it was winter. It was sunset, and the surfers that were there were starting to pack up and leave."

Purple, blue, orange, pink, red, black-all the colors imaginable were visible whenever the sun would set. It always amazed me how right before the world was swallowed into darkness, a burst of color would appear as if telling the world that it wasn't the last time you would see it.

The cold wind rushed through my hair, and the waves crashed softly against the sand a short distance away from where I was sitting. The colors of the sky reflected off the ocean, making it a more luminescent and radiant hue. The scenery reminded me of something ripped out of a beach magazine.

The surfers were beginning to depart, and bonfires behind me were just beginning to start. The waves were shrinking as time passed by, and the darkness crept up from the horizon, dissipating any source of light. The hues were fading away, and the colors of my clothes rippled across the beach as the sun disappeared and the moon started to contrast again the black.

I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. It was the summer, so it wasn't particularly cold anyway. But I still had my Aviator jacket on. I didn't think I would ever take it off. Taking it off was the equivalent of breaking down my walls.

How dramatic of me, I know.

Above me, it looked as if it were nighttime now. The stars were never visible because of all the pollution in the air-courtesy of living in such a bustling and awake city. I could hear the remaining people for the bonfires cheering and celebrating for whatever they accomplished. The waves were now barely grasping onto the sand before slipping away into the darkness only for their hands to emerge again in a repeating, chronic pattern. It was as if I could hear the voices of those who drowned.

Why was I having such depressing thoughts today? Then again, it happened on a regular basis, so why was I even surprised?

I shut my eyes and buried my head into my knees, sighing lightly and feeling the warm breath spread along my face in a kind of soothing manner. The voices of the joyful were drowned out along with my own thoughts, and it felt like I had this empty loneliness-except that I couldn't even feel that loneliness emotion either.

I just felt like... nothing.

My eyes slowly opened, but nothing changed. Eyelids closed or not, all I saw was black where my face was buried into my knees. My clothing was black as well, so it wasn't as if I would see any other colors.

"Hey."

I lifted my head and turned my gaze over my shoulder. I squinted at the amount of foreign light now entering my gaze from the bonfires behind me. Sea green eyes and windswept hair was all I saw see with my temporary impaired sight.

"Who are you?"

He chuckled with a deep voice. "Can I sit down?"

I scowled at him. "Who are you?" I repeated sternly.

His eyebrows rose. "Is it bad if I want to talk to you?"

"Who are you?" I repeated once more.

The teenager exhaled deeply. "Is that all you're going to say to me?"

I switched my gaze over to the ocean attempting to reach me, its hands clawing at the sand before retreating and disappearing into the dark and unknown.

To my annoyance, the stranger sat down anyway. A short silence passed between us, and it was hard trying to pretend he wasn't there. I was prepared to stand up and leave until I heard his voice again.

"Are you here alone?"

I turned my gaze toward him. "Why do you care? Aren't you here with anyone?"

He grinned, switching his eyes over to me instead of the ocean. "Yeah. I'm with my friends over there." He gestured with a single finger over to a nearby bonfire where numerous teenagers were laughing and drinking from those cliché red, plastic cups.

I narrowed my eyes. "Then why are you here?"

He laughed lightly. "Oh, so you get to ask me questions and I don't?"

"You never even told me your name, so why should I?"

Humming, he said, "I guess that's true. My name is Percy. What's yours?"

"Nico."

"Nico, huh?" Percy offered me another one of his sickening, enthusiastic smiles. "Why are you here alone?"

I shrugged. "Should I not be?"

Percy drowned slightly. "Well, I mean, it just seems kind of sad seeing you all alone."

"Why is that? Don't you know that some people like being alone?"

He stretched his arms, setting his palms onto the sand and leaning against them. Percy threw his head back and stared at the nonexistent stars. "I just get the impression that you don't, no matter how much you make it sound like you do."

I narrowed my eyes at him once more, but I chose not to reply. He was right, but I didn't want to admit it out loud. My silence was enough to hint at him how right he was.

"Do you want to hang out with my friends too?" He tilted his head. "I could bring you over there. I'm pretty positive they won't care."

I shook my head. "Absolutely not. Your friends look obnoxious."

Percy laughed. "They kind of are. Some of them aren't, but you get used to them. Are you sure you don't want to?"

"I'm very sure I don't want to. You should get back to them though."

"Why should I if you're not?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Because they're your friends and not mine?"

He hummed. "I guess that's true. But I feel kind of bad if I left you here."

I rolled my eyes, standing up and brushing the sand off my jeans. "Don't be because I'm just about to leave anyway. I was only really here for the sunset anyway. I hate the ocean."

"Seriously?!" Percy appeared taken aback. "I love the ocean!"

"Good for you." I was beginning to retreat until I heard his voice again.

"Nico, is it? What school do you go to?"

I turned around, burying my hands deep into my jacket pockets. One of my hands hit something in a pocket. Unusual, because I didn't remember putting anything into my pocket except for my phone.

"Why do you care?" I questioned flatly.

He shrugged. "I just wanted to see if we had a chance of seeing each other again or something like that. I want to get to know you more."

"Olympus High School," I answered, watching the waves behind Percy glide across the sand and rush into a better world before reappearing and beckoning toward me as if trying to get me to follow them to whatever better world they found.

His sea green eyes lit up so they looked like emeralds. "Really? So do I!"

"I guess this isn't the last time you'll see me then. If you can find me that is." I pivoted on my heels and headed home. As I was trudging home, I pulled out whatever was in my pocket excluding my phone.

It was a scallop's shell. The only other person I could suspect was Percy. But, how did he get it in my pocket in the first place?

I unlocked the door of my home and swung it open before stepping inside. There was this weird feeling in my chest-this feeling of longing. Was it for Percy?

I slid my thumb across the surface of the shell. Why would I be longing for Percy? I only just met the guy. Well, I guess he was nice. But with my luck, I was betting it was the last time that I would talk to him.

Little did I know, however.