SummerSpirit18: I don't mean that your government does spy on you, I just mean that they can. Which is true. They have the ability to do it, and if there's reason for it then they will. But they don't do it just for kicks. If they wouldn't let him have an iPod, why would they let him have a big heavy thing that plays disk that are sharp if you break them? Plus, where the hell would he get a gramophone? His parents aren't that old. Actually, Hades is that old, but not in this story.

Mrs-diAngelo25: I try. I loved the scene with Nico and Hades. Thank you! And I think this chapter wraps the whole story up very nicely.

infinity heart star lightning: Do you really think I would write a story in which Thalia and Nico never see each other again? Please, have a little faith.

dont get too close: I never really thought of Australians talking like that. How can you not have prom? I mean I can understand not having homecoming, it's pretty pointless, but prom? And I know you don't have Thanksgiving or 4th of July, why would you celebrate the American independence day? That made perfect sense, I would love to have a school year like that. We start in September and just keep going. We get three days off in November for Thanksgiving, two weeks in December for Christmas and such, a week in February, a week in April, and two months in July and August. And I don't think most of America gets February off, we get it so we can work at the ski areas. That's our biggest industry in the winter, winter sports. And yes, this is the last chapter, I'm sorry. But I hope you liked Dance!

Goddess Of Idiots: The difference between Nico and Percy is that Percy doesn't spend every Friday night drinking and popping pills and cutting himself on the docks. Annabeth just doesn't understand why Thalia's so attached to Nico.

StolenColors14: I'm sorry, I really can't write more. You'll understand after you read the end of this.

Melissa daughter of Hecate: I think that was my favorite quote of the day. Thank you!

Fiona Siona: I'm very sorry, it's really the end. But I hope you like the last chapter. By the way, what does ILY mean?

I don't own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 10 – Twelfth Grade

Nico stared at his feet as he walked into school on the first day of twelfth grade. He could hear people whispering and knew that they were staring. Everyone had heard about what had happened that night on the dock, he'd heard there was even an assembly for him. Which seemed a little pointless, seeing as he wasn't there for it. But really, he wouldn't have wanted to be there for it. He didn't want people to talk about him. He was jealous of Thalia. She hadn't been mentioned in the assembly, or in the newspaper article that Persephone had brought him. It was such a Persephone thing to do, bring him a copy of what other people were saying about the night he almost killed himself.

He wondered again if what had happened that night was real, or if he'd just imagined Thalia kissing him. Would she ever be able to look at him the same way again? Probably not. And it probably wasn't real anyway. Why would someone as amazing as Thalia kiss him?

Pulling his sleeves down to hide the long scar on his left wrist Nico made his way to the second floor and his locker.


Thalia leaned against her locker. Luke was telling the four of them about the cruise his parents took him on to Bermuda and how they'd gone through the Bermuda Triangle, but Thalia tuned him out. She didn't really care. She could feel Annabeth watching her. Thalia hadn't spent much time with any of her friends that summer except for Annabeth. She'd talked to Amber and December on the phone a few times (actually she'd only talked to December once, and she wasn't sure if she should bleach the memory from her mind or not), but she hadn't seen Percy, Luke or Grover at all. Annabeth had managed to get a hold of Nico's home address for Thalia, but when she'd gone there no one had been home, and she hadn't gotten the courage to go again.

Would Nico come to school? Was he even back home? For all she knew he might still be in the loony bin, which she was convinced he'd been taken to. It had been five months. Would they let him out after that long?

She glanced at the door in the hopes that Nico might walk through, but even if he had she probably wouldn't have been able to distinguish him from the rest of the people. She could barely see the doors as it was.

"Thalia," she heard, and turned back to see all four of her friends staring at her. Luke laughed. "I asked you how your summer was."

"Fine," she answered in a bored tone.

"I didn't see you at all," Percy said.

Thalia glanced at Annabeth who gave her a nearly imperceptible nod, telling her to tell them what she wanted.

"I went to visit my friends in Florida," she lied, hoping that they hadn't seen her on the streets or something.

Thankfully none of them apparently had. "Oh that's cool. How are they?" Percy asked.

Thalia forced a laugh. "Crazy as ever."

They all laughed with her, and Annabeth changed the subject. "Percy and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

Percy groaned and dropped his head back. "Seven hours. She managed to get me looking at art for seven hours."

Annabeth, Luke, Grover and Thalia all laughed, and as Annabeth began to describe the trip, Thalia looked back at the door. She didn't see him and was about to turn back and actually try to listen to Annabeth's description of the Temple of Dendur when she saw a mop of messy black hair standing at Nico's locker.

"I'll be right back," she said to her friends. As she made her way towards him she broke into a smile.

"Hey," she said when she was standing next to him. He jumped and turned to her, then smiled a little.

"Hi," he said softly. It was the first time they'd spoken in school.

"I tried to go to your house, but there wasn't anyone there."

He shook his head. "Wouldn't have mattered. I only go home last week."

"From where."

Nico looked down at the notebooks he was struggling with and didn't answer. They both knew anyway.

"What are you doing?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Am I not allowed to talk to my friend?" Thalia asked, smirking a little.

"Didn't know we were friends," Nico said, so softly Thalia almost couldn't hear it over the yelling in the hallway.

"Nico," she began, then stopped.

"What?"

"Do you…do you…remember?"

Nico froze. He knew what she was talking about. Oh my God, he thought, it was real.

He turned to stare at Thalia, and her heart sank. He doesn't remember, she thought. Fuck, he doesn't remember.

Nico turned back to his locker, put his notebooks down, and looked at her again. He put a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her.

It was short, and Thalia barely had a chance to smile before it was finished. Nico leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "Yeah."

Thalia's smile grew wider, and she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Good," she said when she let go of him. "'Cause I didn't want to have to tell you again."

Nico grinned and chuckled. It had been a long time since he'd done either in school.

"What's your first class?" she asked. Nico pulled out his schedule from his bag.

"Art 1," he answered finally. Thalia raised an eyebrow and he sighed. "I have to have an art credit to graduate."

"You have to have an artsss credit," Thalia corrected, drawing out the s. "Theater and music count, too."

"Can you imagine me onstage?" Nico asked, and Thalia laughed.

"Come on, Mister," she said, taking his hand. "I have the same class."

As they made their way down the hall, Nico looked at everyone staring at him and realized that they didn't matter. Whether or not they liked him didn't make a difference. So he was different. Honestly, there were a lot more people in this school that were like him, so why did they care so much about him?

Because he let them. Because he didn't look them in the face and let them know that he didn't give a shit what they thought.

That was going to change this year, Nico decided. He wasn't going to let them think that they were better than him. If Thalia believed in him, believed that he could get better and that he deserved a second chance, if she was willing to give him that second chance, then why shouldn't he take it?

He looked down at her and smiled wider than he ever had before.

That's it guys. We've reached the end.

I'm going to say all of my goodbyes in a minute, but first I have a few announcements. There hasn't been any news on Abby. Honestly, I'm not sure I believe she's coming back. At least not alive. Again, if you know anything call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

I have a new chapter ready for Along the Way, I'm going to be uploading every other Monday instead of every Monday.

If anyone hasn't read Dance, please do. I'm also going to have another one-shot up soon, not sure how soon, but be on the look out for that.

I still haven't read the House of Hades! My mom and sister are both trying to read it at the same time, it isn't going all that well. My sister isn't the fastest reader, so I have to wait until both of them are done. It'll be weeks.

Okay, for the goodbyes.

First I want to thank everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed/read this story.

Special thank you to: Mrs-diAngelo25 for not just leaving a "great story" or "update soon" but actually taking the time to tell me things and respond to my author's note.

Also to SummerSpirit18, not just for this story but for reading my stories and reviewing every chapter since I started almost a year and a half ago. And for her sense of humor, even if I don't think she's really trying to make me laugh she always manages to.

And to dont get to close for what she said on her profile about me (totally made my day, but I think I already told you that). And because she's new, so I think she deserves a special hello.

Hi!

So yeah. That's it. Thank you all again for reading and reviewing and whatever else you may have happened to do. Mondays are the days I look forward to most, which is so backwards it isn't even funny. But I get to update and I love it so much.

But before we end, I have one last Quote of the Week for you.

"Take your stupid narwhal."

I'm not going to explain that one, just know that it was my sister giving my brother his narwhal while we were in the car. The narwhal's name is Dave. Don't ask me why.

The Quote of the Week will continue on Along the Way, so you should read it if you haven't already!

I hope you all stick with me through other stories, and I'll see you again.

Thanks again,

- Jez