"Are you ready?" Nico jumped as his dad appeared in the backseat of the SUV next to him. "No." Nico rolled his eyes. Hades was making Nico try normal high school and today was his first day. "My son, you'll be fine." Hades told Nico. Will leaned forward so he could see Nico and Hades both. "Oh, hi, Will." Hades said. "Sir." Will nodded in Hades' direction. He took Nico's hand in his own. "You're gonna be fine." He said. Nico smiled a little. "You're not worried I'll find someone hotter than you?" Will looked frightened for a moment, and then rolled his eyes. "Hotter than me? As if." Nico laughed lightly. "You're right." He leaned back in his seat slowly as his new school came into view. Hades put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "I've got to go, but you'll be fine, Nico." Hades smiled at Nico and disappeared. Nico groaned. "You know I could just shadow travel away right now?" He said. "No." Will said as Jules-Albert pulled the car up to the front doors. Nico cursed in ancient Greek. Will smacked his arm. "Nico, you'll be fine." He hugged him. "Jules-Albert and I will be waiting right here for you when you get finished." Nico glanced at Jules-Albert, setting in the driver's seat and reached out and opened his door. "Love you." Nico said. Will's face turned bright red and he grinned. "Love you too, Neeks." Nico grabbed his black backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and hopped out of the car. He saw Will wave at him and then hop in the front seat and start messing with the radio. Will has it easy, Nico thought. This seriously sucks. I have to go out into people who aren't even demigods. As he walked through the doors, he thought about the past summer. The time he and Will had had the archery contest, the capture the flag game where Will had tried to kill him and Lou Ellen with sunlight, when he met Will's mom and stepdad... It all made him dread this year even more.
He made it to his first-hour class, history, and quickly grabbed a seat in the back row. As other students crowded into the room, he got a few strange looks. This was a small school, and it seemed as if everyone else knew each other already. After everyone had chosen a seat, a middle-aged woman with dark hair and ice-cold eyes walked into the room. She walked up to the whiteboard and wrote her name. "I'm your 11th grade history teacher." She said. "I know most of you... but some of you are new..." She said, looking directly at Nico. He looked down at the floor. "Today we're going to start talking about ancient Greece. Greek mythology was very important to the ancient Greeks; who knows anything about it? Let's see... a volunteer. That's what we need. Someone to tell us about Greek mythology." Her cold, dark eyes scanned the room. They narrowed when they reached Nico. Not me, please. Oh gods. "How about you? In the back?" Nico could tell it was anything but a request. He stood slowly and a few kids snickered. The teacher held out a whiteboard marker and Nico slowly took it. "What's your name?" She asked. "Nico di Angelo." He said quietly. A few more kids giggled. He took a deep breath. "Well, Nico, why don't you write what you know about Greek mythology on the board?" Nico could tell she expected him to be clueless, and he wanted to prove her wrong. He turned to the board and wrote the name of every god that had a cabin at camp and what they were the god of. When he finished, he turned back to the teacher. She looked impressed. "Very good, Nico di Angelo." He turned and walked quickly to his seat. Someone coughed twice as an attempt to cover up the word "Weirdo" as he walked by. "Goth nerd." Someone else whispered. He just wanted to shadow travel back to camp and be with Will. But he couldn't. He also wanted to summon about a thousand dead guys and have them attack these kids. But, he couldn't do that either.
The rest of the day were some of the worst hours of Nico's life, which was saying something. The minute the final bell rang, Nico shot out the doors, ignoring the glares and stares of his classmates. He saw Jules-Albert and Will waiting in the SUV, right where Will said they'd be. He raced across the parking lot and yanked the door open. Will was right there waiting for him. Nico dropped his bag and pulled Will down and kissed him. He could tell Will was shocked; he was usually the one who started these type of things, but Nico didn't care. He was so happy to see someone he liked. Again, he could hear classmates snickering and feel their stares as they walked by. He kissed Will again and jumped in beside him, pulling the door shut behind him. AsJules-Albert started to pull out, Will took Nico's hand. "So? How was it?" He asked. Nico rolled his eyes. "It. Freaking. Sucked." Will smiled a little and put an arm around the son of Hades. "Now, it couldn't have been too bad. Tell me about it." Nico sighed. "Okay. First hour, it somehow ended up that I had to write all of the Greek gods on the board and, you know, I knew them all and nobody thought I would and that earned me the nickname 'Goth Nerd'. That's what people called me all day." Before he could say anything else, Hades appeared beside him."DAD! STOP DOING THAT!" Nico said irritably. Hades put his hands up. "Sorry, sorry..." He said. "So, how was your day. Nico rolled his eyes and balled his fists. "Dad, please, please don't make me go back. I don't belong there." He said, sounding like a 6 year old begging his daddy. Hades put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "Not a good day?" He asked. "UGGHHHH..." Nico groaned. "Oh, um, to quote him, It. Freaking. Sucked." Will told Hades. Hades chuckled. "So it really wasn't good?" Nico shook his head. "Gods, no." Hades looked like he was deep in thought. "Well..." Hades started. "Will, how smart are you?" He asked. Will looked baffled. "Um... I... I'm pretty smart, sir, I think..." Hades'eyes twinkled. "Well, Nico, you hang out with Will, right?" Nico almost laughed. "Seriously? Uh, yeah." Hades grinned. "Just make sure he teaches you something every now and then." Nico's eyes light up. "So I don't have to go back?" He asked. Hades grinned. "Gotta run." He announced, and disappeared. Nico stared at Will. "That was weird." He said. Will laughed. "At least you don't have to go back." He said. Nico nodded. "Yeah, thank the gods." He grinned and pulled Will down for another kiss.
