Nico POV
My whole walk back home I kinda felt bad about talking to Will the way I did. I didn't mean to come across as judgmental towards him, but I was kinda surprised.
Before Will came off as kind of perfect. Not in the good way like there's nothing wrong with them, but as in they are the stereotypical exact version of successful, and that pissed me off.
He was one of the smartest kids in our grade, in the school-wide math competition last year he came in second only to my cousin's girlfriend Annabeth Chase, and she was a junior while Will was a freshman. If that wasn't enough, you couldn't walk down the hall without seeing flyers for clubs with contact information of the students that run them and just about all of them said something along the lines of treasurer- Will Solace, secretary- Will Solace. He's the star of the track team. He has friends, something I certainly couldn't relate to. Hes probably got half the school trying to date him too, I've never exactly heard people saying that but he just looks like he would.
Maybe that's why when I went to his house I expected to be greeted by two good looking taller versions of Will, in a house that looked comfortable. Maybe his parents would be doctors or Lawyers or something where you could easily see where he got his traits, but that's not what it was at all. As much as I could tell he was trying to hide it, it was fairly obvious that his house is a mess. The smell of cheep alcohol was so strong I could still smell it even now. There was a crash upstairs like someone fell down and since it was quite I could hear someone yelling at their mom to get up. It wasn't hard to tell what happens over there.
As wrong of me as it is to say this, I hated Will even more after seeing that. In a way it made me feel bad about not being like him. Since Bianca died, I never managed to get back into stuff, not school, or tennis, I even stopped talking to Percy. It was too hard. Just a year ago Percy would pick up me, Bianca, and Hazel and take us out with his friends. I missed Jason, and Piper, and Annabeth, I even missed Leo. I know Hazel missed Frank too. He was in my grade, one year above Hazel, I had to work with him on a project a few months ago but I couldn't talk to him.
Hazel still hangs out with Percy sometimes but she usually turns him down because of me. I hate being the reason she lost her want to go be happy but I just can't go without Bianca and pretend to be happy without her. At the end of the day she was my best friend and the thought of living the rest of my life without seeing her is too overwhelming to think about. So I don't.
When her body was taken from the house the rope she used was still up, I took it down. Its in the back of my closet. I don't know why I kept it, maybe its a just in case.
My dad got home a little while later, he was pissed about something from work and of course I had to be the one to hear about it. It's funny, I don't even feel bad when he pulls out the belt or his fist, just neutral. That's how I feel about most things, not happy, not sad, neutral. It's a way of dealing with things I think, just getting by is better than falling down the trap Bianca went. I can't afford to think like her, I have Hazel, and as long as she needs me I'll be here.
I laid down on my bed and read for a while, I wasn't paying much attention to it though, I was thinking about Will. I don't want to see him tomorrow so I think I'll just not go. He'll be pissed I'm missing the last day before we present. He said something about wanting to practice tomorrow but oh well. I already let down everyone else in my life, what's one more person.