Mrs-diAngelo25: My nails lasted for two weeks and then one of them started peeling while I was making cookies, so I took them all of and now my nails are completely black. But I had special nail polish that was designed not to chip. I think Thalia will enjoy New York, even if she is away from her friends. But I've already written the whole thing, so I know. This chapter has a lot of Thalia.
xXGoldenDarknessXx: Holy God, peanut butter and chocolate in a cookie? That's like heaven in a bite. I've never had one. What kind of a school do you go to? Fights and graffiti in the science lab? The most interesting thing that's happened is...I'll think of something...no I won't, nothing ever happens around here. Yeah, I love December so much. The great thing is that all of her sisters are different, most of them are really really smart. They aren't different from each other, but they're very different from her. She's a singer. At least in the story that I'm working on about her. I like to use characters from independent novels that I'm working on in my fanfictions.
SummerSpirit18: I love watching snow and drinking hot chocolate for about thirty seconds, and then it gets boring and I start watching Bones on my iPod. While drinking hot chocolate. And if it's after Christmas I'll have a candy cane in my hot chocolate, which is amazing. But I'm just getting excited for Halloween, one of my favorite holidays.
Guest: Thanks.
dont get too close: This is probably the best review I've gotten for this story, definitely the best for this chapter. Thank you thank you thank you. I'm sorry, this chapter has more Thalia than Nico in it. Actually the rest of the story has more Thalia than Nico, but they start to sort of intertwine. I don't think this chapter will make you cry, or the next one, but if you think you're ruined now just wait for the eighth chapter. I have a feeling that one will make you cry a lot. Again, thank you.
Lost Daughter of Poseidon: Thank you!
I don't own Percy Jackson or Green Day.
Chapter 6 – Tenth Grade
Half the people on Thalia's bus were asleep, and the other half were staring at iPods or iPads or iPhones and had completely zoned out. Thalia was just taking in the scenery. Diablo Cove was gorgeous, beaches and little shops and cobblestone roads, but New York was…grand. There wasn't another word for it. New York had skyscrapers and lights and people and coffee shops…well Diablo Cove had coffee shops, too, but these were real New York coffee shops. As much as Thalia missed her friends, she had fallen in love with this city as soon as she'd crossed the bridge to Manhattan at ten o'clock at night, when it was all lit up and the lights were reflected on the water.
Thalia was snapped out of her reverie by the bus stopping and everyone waking up. As she stood up and lifted her messenger bag over her head she suddenly wished that she had slept, too. She was exhausted.
She walked with the crowd into the Goode High School, but stopped when she got to the cafeteria. She'd never had this problem before, she'd always just sat with her friends. In Diablo Cove she'd ruled the school, she could sit with anyone. But now she was the new girl. She didn't have anyone to sit with.
"Hey," someone behind her said, and she turned around to see a girl with blonde hair and gray eyes smiling at her. "Looking for a place to sit?"
Thalia nodded and the girl's smile widened. "I'm Annabeth," she said, holding out her hand to shake. Thalia stared at the hand for a second before tentatively taking it and shaking. Teenagers in Florida didn't generally shake hands, but maybe it was a New York thing.
"Thalia," she said.
"Come on," Annabeth said, and led Thalia to a table in the middle of the room. "Where are you from?"
"Florida."
"Wow, that's pretty far."
Thalia shrugged but didn't answer.
"Guys, this is Thalia," Annabeth introduced. "Thalia, this is Grover," a black kid with crutches, "Luke," tall blonde haired boy with blue eyes and a mischievous smirk, "and Percy," black hair and green eyes and a slightly bewildered look that might have come from being half awake, "my idiots."
Thalia laughed while the boys all feigned hurt. "I'm wounded, Annabeth," Luke said.
"Yeah, Annie, she should be able to decide that by herself," Percy added.
Annabeth scowled at him. "Don't call me Annie," she snapped.
Percy cowered and Grover laughed. "Go get some coffee," he told Annabeth.
"Dude, you have coffee here?" Thalia asked incredulously.
The other four looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, why?"
"We didn't have it at my old school. God, my mom hasn't set up our coffee maker yet, I thought I was gonna have to go without today."
The boys laughed and Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder. "We wouldn't want you to suffer like that, come on."
They went through the line and each got a cup of coffee, seven creams and six sugars for Thalia and one cream for Annabeth. When they got to the cash register Thalia pulled out her wallet but Annabeth put a hand on Thalia's.
"I've got it. It's hard enough being a new girl, might as well have someone else pay for coffee," Annabeth said, pulling out money and handing it to the cashier.
"You may be my new favorite person in the world," Thalia said. She took a sip of her coffee and made a face. "Oh God, this is awful."
"I said they have coffee, I never said it was good."
"Yeah, well, bad coffee's better than no coffee."
The two girls walked back to their table laughing.
*/*/*
Nico never went to the cafeteria in the morning. It was his rule. It was easier to avoid people if you weren't where they were.
But he considered breaking that rule when he walked into school on the first day of tenth grade and saw her sitting at a table in the cafeteria. She had spiky black hair and brilliant blue eyes and she was laughing, and Nico didn't need to hear it because seeing her smile was enough. He didn't know her name, he didn't know where she'd come from, but the fact that she was sitting there with Percy and Percy's new friends was almost enough to make him go over and sit with them.
But instead he adjusted the backpack that hung on his shoulder by one strap and kept going, up to the second floor and his locker.
He had another rule for school: never skip anything the first day. As much as he hated school, he just felt like skipping the first class of any course wasn't fair. But again, he was considering breaking that rule today. He didn't want to even try suffering through the entire day. He just wanted to go home and lie in bed listening to Green Day. Maybe he could just skip one class.
He stopped at his locker, but he wasn't sure why. He never used it. He just carried everything around with him. He'd learned that people usually hung out in the hallways between classes, so the less time he had to spend there the better.
Just like he did every day Nico glanced down the hall to where Percy's locker was. He still considered Percy a friend even though he hadn't talked to Percy since maybe January.
Nico froze when he saw the beautiful girl from the cafeteria leaning against Percy's locker, talking to Percy Annabeth, Luke and Grover, and laughing.
He quickly turned back to his locker and began trying to open it.
*/*/*
Thalia had noticed the black-haired boy staring at her. She'd noticed him standing outside the cafeteria, too. She didn't know why she found him so intriguing. She'd only seen him twice and she didn't know his name, but he was interesting.
"Who's that?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of him.
Annabeth looked up and in the direction Thalia was staring. "Who?"
Thalia pointed down the hall. "The kid in black. He's playing with his locker."
Luke snorted. He was leaning against the locker next to Thalia with his arms crossed. "A freak."
Percy slammed his locker shut. "He's not a freak," he spat out. Annabeth lay on hand on Percy's arm and glared at Luke. "His name is Nico. And he's not a freak, he just…"
"Has trouble," Annabeth finished for him. "His sister died a few years ago, and he hasn't been the same since."
"He collapsed in the cafeteria in seventh grade," Grover continued. "and didn't come back to school until the beginning of eighth. Some people thought he was on drugs, but I didn't believe that."
Luke unfolded his arms, stood up straight, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's because he wasn't. Yet."
Percy made a move forward but Annabeth held him back. "He doesn't," Percy hissed.
"Percy, go to class," Annabeth commanded. "You, too, Luke."
Luke pushed past them and started down the hall. Grover grabbed Percy's arm and tugged him to their own classroom.
Annabeth turned back to Thalia. She sighed. "Nico used to be Percy's best friend, before his sister died. He sort of ended up drifting away. Now…" she trailed off and sighed again. "Honestly, I think Percy's kidding himself. I'd be surprised if Nico didn't do drugs."
"God," Thalia breathed.
Annabeth nodded. "Come on." She turned on her heel and walked away.
Thalia glanced down the hall at where Nico had been standing, but he was gone.
*/*/*
She didn't realize she shared a study hall in the library with him until she heard people whispering. "Did you know that kid does drugs?" one girl said to her friend. They were sitting at the table next to Thalia's.
The friend must have been as new to the school as Thalia was, because she stared at the first girl with comically wide eyes. "Really?"
Thalia snorted to herself. What kind of idiot girl was this? There were so many kids in this school who did drugs. This was New York.
"Yeah. I guess his sister died or something, and he kinda went crazy."
"How'd she die?" the second girl asked in a breathless tone.
The first girl leaned in conspiratorially. "Plane crash. My brother said he saw him lighting animals on fire."
Thalia almost laughed out loud. These people were even more stupid than the people in Diablo's Cove. She'd love to know what December would say. She'd pick these bitches apart.
At the table in front of her Thalia saw Nico sitting alone. He was pretending to read a book, but she could see how white his knuckles were. He could hear the girls.
Thalia leaned towards the girls' table and said in a loud whisper, "Hey."
The two girls looked at her, along with a few other people in the vicinity. "Mind your own fucking business," she said, then turned back to the worksheet she was attempting.
She glanced up at Nico, and almost cheered when she saw the tiny smile playing on his lips.
*/*/*
Four months later, Nico sat in the back of French class staring at Thalia in front of him. He hadn't ever said anything to her, not even to thank her that first day for standing up for him. But he watched her every time they had class together.
She still hung out with Percy, Grover, Luke and Annabeth, but he'd noticed that by the end of her first month at Goode High everyone in the school knew her name. She had her fair share of admirers, too, but it didn't seem that she really noticed any of them.
Especially not him.
He would admit that he had a crush on her, but he knew he didn't have a chance. She had a boyfriend. Luke. Of course. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and he was perfect. If Nico hadn't had a chance with her before, he definitely didn't have one now, not if that was her type.
*/*/*
"Luke, this isn't working."
Luke stared at Thalia. "What do you mean?"
Thalia sighed. They were standing on the patio outside Rachel Elizabeth Dare's house. Loud music pounded from inside, and Thalia was sure it would match the pounding in her head tomorrow morning.
"I really like you, Luke, but I don't think it's the way I should."
Luke blinked.
"I'm breaking up with you."
He exhaled. "You know, maybe next time you should start with that."
Thalia chuckled. "Yeah, and maybe I shouldn't do it when we're both half drunk."
"That too." He took her hand. "Why?"
"Because you're my friend, but I don't like you as a boyfriend. I really want to stay friends with you, though."
Luke let go of her hand and crossed his arms. "Of course I'll stay your friend. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
She laughed. "And I see the way you look at Nicole."
He groaned and leaned his head back. "Is it really that obvious?"
Thalia laughed again. "Yeah." She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "I think I saw her in there. And you're newly single."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you."
Laughing, they walked back into the party.
I love this chapter, but I love every chapter. I know I promised Thalico in the last chapter, but I think I said that it starts taking off. Which I think it does. I think the next chapter is probably my favorite one.
Homecoming is in two weeks, and for the first time I've actually started planning out what I'm going to wear. Actually I've finished. It took about two minutes, I just had to try on one of my dresses to see if it still fit. It does. I'm very excited. It's a pretty awesome dress, and I don't usually say that about clothes.
The story for American Lit that I mentioned in the last chapter is going horribly. I've had to rewrite it twice, and the second time meant getting rid of eight pages of work. But I think I really like this version. It's due tomorrow, wish me luck.
No, I haven't gotten started on the new story, I'm sorry, but I've been beating myself up about it all week, and I'm really trying to find the time.
My mom and I have this thing called Quote of the Day, so I'm starting one called Quote of the Week. It's something that I've heard around my house that makes sense in context (or sometimes not) but sounds so funny if you just hear the quote. This week has two, because they're related.
Quotes of the Week: "Don't brand your sister." "She's not my sister, she's my elephant."
Review!
