Unbroken {Solangelo}

chapter 12.

.:Will POV:.

A drop of water splashes onto my book, running down the page and making the inked words bleed into each other.

I glance up. Dark gray storm clouds are gathering in the sky, shaking it as rain begins to shower down.

"Fuck!" I yelp, stuffing my book into my bag and scrambling under the roofed porch of the school. I check my phone for the time. It's 4:15. Mum was supposed to pick me up at 3:30 and take me home, my car had died this morning.

Great. I'm stuck at school, in the pouring rain, and no way to get home. There's no way I could walk it, my house is a thirty minute drive from school. Imagine how long it would take to walk that in the rain.

"What the hell are you doing here?" A voice asks, followed with a door slamming shut, making me jump. The voice laughs. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

I turn around to see Nico, with his hood up over his black hair and his bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes hold a glint of amusement.

"I would like to ask the same question for you." I say. Why would he be at the school past hours?

He shrugs. "I had detention." Before I can ask for what, he adds, "Forgot I wasn't at Hogwarts and called the math teacher a muggle."

I blink.

"So why are you here?"

"Uh," I rub the back of my neck. "My mum forgot to come pick me up."

Nico's eyes narrow. "Do you want to ride home with me?"

My eyes widen. "S-sure. Yeah." I reply. I mean, if Mum doesn't care enough to come pick me up in the fucking rain, she won't care if I come home later. Plus, it's Friday, I usually don't come home until late on Fridays anyway.

The boy starts off. I hang back a bit in shock before he turns around and calls, "You coming?"

"Oh," his voice snaps me back into reality, "yeah."

* * *

"You have your own car?" I ask as we approach the black Mercedes-Benz. His car looks so much nicer than mine, even though his must be an older model.

"It's my dad's old one. He gave it to me when he bought his new, fancy car. I like old cars, anyway." Nico responds, climbing into the driver's seat. I pile into the passenger's side.

While he starts the engine, something catches my attention. A stack of CDs.

"Hey! You like A Day To Remember?" I exclaim to Nico as I take the case.

He glances over at me. "Uh--yeah. You can put it in if you want."

I grin and oblige. As soon as the first song--Paranoia--plays I'm already bobbing my head and singing. Nico is tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm.

He snorts, smiling just barely. "You are awful at singing, Will."

"Why, thank you."

* * *

"I'm home!" Nico yells into the house as we enter it.

I trip over the door's threshold, my foot catching and my body pitching forward.

Suddenly, I feel Nico's strangely warm hands grab mine before I can faceplant. His grasp is surprisingly strong as he steadies me.

"Oooh, what's happening here?" Someone asks, and I can practically hear the smirk in their voice. We both glance up to see a dark-skinned girl with golden eyes and cinnamon colored hair, her arms crossed and a smug look on her face.

Nico lets go of my hands so quickly I almost fall again.

"H-Hazel! Uh, this is Will. He's over for the evening." He stammers, pink tinting his pale face. Hazel wiggles her eyebrows and I feel the red creep up my cheeks, too.

She opens her mouth to say something else but she's interrupted. "Hi, sweetie! Oh, who's this?" A woman comes in. She's tall, with long strawberry-blonde hair and a white dress that sways around her ankles.

"That's Nico's boyyy--" Hazel begins. She's already starting to get on my nerves.

"Persephone, this is Will. My friend." He turns to Hazel and narrows his dark eyes to say that last part.

"Hi, Will. I'm Nico's stepmom. You can call me Seph." She reaches out to shake my hand, smiling.

I take it, smiling back. "Hi."

Seph exclaims. "Ohmygods, he can smile!"

"Who can't?" Nico counters.

"You." I retort, making him glare at me before sticking his tongue out.