Meeting on unfortunate circumstances [PJO story]

Oh, you got to be kidding

Nico couldn't believe they let Annabeth drag them into this nonsense. They barely know her, much less this Jason guy. So why should they care about this guy? But here they were, helping. They hate helping.

"Okay, so Jason was last seen at Centaurs Café." Annabeth said, showing them the post Thalia, Jason's sister, had made.

"Uh huh." They responded.

"So we go there and ask around."

"Okay."

"And don't worry, I'll do the talking. Since, you know, you don't like talking."

"Great."

"However," she starts, pulling out a notepad and hands it to them. "You will have to take notes."

Nico sighs, "Okay..."

"Look, I know this sucks, but this is important to me."

"If it was so important, why bring me, miss valedictorian?"

"Firstly, I'm not the valedictorian. Secondly, I know you can do this, Nico. You used to be top student."

"Yeah, used to be."

Annabeth pursed her lip. Then, suddenly she stopped walking. "We're here."

They walk in to the café. It was pretty packed, which wasn't surprising. It was the last day of school. Of course it would be crowded. Nonetheless, the crowd made Nico's skin crawl. Their nail started to dig into the palm of their hand.

"So what do we do, miss valedictorian?" Nico asked, ignoring Annabeth's glare.

"Why-? Never mind. We are going to ask if we can see the security cameras."

"And why would they give two teenagers that?"

"Because we're junior investigators."

"We are?"

"Yes. Now," Annabeth makes her way into the front of the line, showing people that protested her fake badge that she apparently had. "Excuse me, my name is Annabeth Chase and this is my partner Nico di Angelo. We're here to ask about a missing student at New Rome, Jason Grace."

"We already talked to the police about that." The girl, whose name tag read 'Lavinia' said. She had pink hair and wore a Star of David necklace.

"We get that, but we are private junior investigators assign for this job. Just please give us something."

"Okay-"

"Hello?" A girl said behind them. She had braids and wore the Half-Blood high uniform. Next to her was a tall guy in matching uniform. His hair was blond. If Nico had to guess, his hair type was 4a.

"Oh, you got to be kidding." Nico muttered. It's bad enough they were dragged into this, now you add the Half-Blood high idiots.

Annabeth and Nico stared at the two teens intently. The girl shifted underneath their gaze. The guy, however, stared back with just as much intensity.

"Excuse us, we're just trying to find our friend." The guy said, his voice was nice and deep with a slight southern twinge. It made Nico blush. Then, they cursed at letting some random hot guy blush.

"So are we." Annabeth said, crossing her arms.

Lavinia cleared her throat, causing the four teens to look at her. "Um, if you four need to see the security cameras for that day they went missing, I can show you them. Just don't tell my boss. I don't need to be fired."

The guy smiled at her, "That'll be great, thanks."

They all follow her into the back where a desk with a computer on it showing the areas on the security cameras. Lavinia walks up to the desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a CD with evidence written on the case.

"We made this for the police to take," Lavinia explained. "But they never took it. They didn't even look at the footage."

"Typical." Annabeth muttered.

The tall blond takes it from her hand, giving her a big smile. "Thank you, this means a lot."

"Yeah, I mean I want this to be solve."

"I hope we do."

~

They walk out of the café with awkward silence. The Half-blood high kids stop suddenly.

"Look, I know that we're technically rivals, but we are in the same boat here. Both of our friends went missing on the same day in the same place. I think their disappearance are connected." The girl said.

Annabeth glanced at Nico, before sighing. "I think you're right. So I guess we'll have to work together."

"I guess so. I'm Piper Mclean and this is my friend, Will Solace." She stuck out her hand for them to shake.

"I'm Annabeth Chase," She said, taking Piper's hand. Then she shrugged towards Nico, who was trying to hide themselves. "That's Nico di Angelo."

Piper turned towards them and smiled at them. She probably wanted them to shake her hand or something, but Nico just stood there kind of awkwardly.

"Oh uh, Nico is very quite. They tend not to respond to people, unless they want to."

Piper nods and took her gaze off of them.

"Well, now that we got introductions out of the way. We should like, go somewhere to watch this." Piper said, gesturing towards the CD Will was holding.

"Where?"

"I dunno. Will's mom has something we can use to play this. If you're okay in going to his house."

Annabeth glanced at Nico, who was picking at their jacket sleeve.

"Sure, but I want out of this uniform."