Favors (Percico AU)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (Nico's POV)

"Dude, chill out. It's just a swimming lesson" Will said and took another bite of his hotdog. It was only lunch time but my nerves were collecting in my throat. "It's not just a swimming lesson! Percy Jackson is teaching me how to swim! How can you take this so lightly?" I exclaimed a little louder than I meant to. Will rolled his eyes, "Nico, you are such a drama queen."

I groaned and stabbed my fork into my hotdog, "I am not a drama queen!" Will raised his eyebrows, students at a nearby table were staring at me. I took a deep breath, I knew I couldn't lose my head over something like this. It would have led to more embarrassment. "Can you please come with me?" I asked Will quietly.

"I will drive you, but I don't want to be a bother." I frowned, "how would you be a bother? I want you to come and I doubt Percy would mind." Will shrugged, "anything can happen at a swimming lesson. And I think Percy would like some alone time with you." My eyes widened, "how could you say that? Nothing like that will happen. It's just a swimming lesson."

"Then why are you worried?" I sighed in frustration, "because we will be alone and it will be awkward and I-"

"Nico, relax. Everything will be fine. Now, tell me what happened with Clayton."

...

I couldn't sit still. I couldn't watch the movie. I kept getting up to pace around the room. I knew Will was getting agitated, but I didn't care. I had thirty more minutes left until we had to leave. Every first day of school made me nervous. Changing in the locker room made me nervous. Public speaking made me nervous. But what I was feeling wasn't nerves. It was a feeling that was eating me alive.

"Nico, calm down. You still have another half hour before we need to leave." I ignored him and kept pacing. I was thinking seriously about not going. But I already paid for the first lesson and my dad hated wasting money. I looked back at the clock to see it was 4:30. I only lived ten minutes away from the activity center.

"You should go get your swim trunks," Will said as he turned off the TV. I made it pretty clear I was too nervous to watch it. "Do you want to eat something before we go?" I shook my head, "I can't eat right now."

Will nodded, "well, we got fifteen minutes so go get ready." With shaky legs, I left the living room to go and pack my bag. All I needed was a towel, an old white tee-shirt and the black swim trunks with gray skulls I bought the day before. I got a plastic bag to put my stuff in and met Will in the kitchen. "Ready?" I nodded and looked at the time on the stove, it was time to leave.

My stomach did flip-flops on the way to the car. My body continued to shake. My breathing grew faster and I could tell Will was getting a bit worried. "Nico take a deep breath. It's just a swimming lesson. You don't want Percy to see you like this do you?" He was right. I didn't want Percy to see me like that. I tried to think of something else, but my thoughts weren't working with me.

I closed my eyes and replayed a TV show I watched the night before in my head. It relaxed me a little. Will turned on some music and started to sing. He loved to sing and was pretty good at it. But when he sung in the car, he sang loud and bad on purpose because he knew I hated it. I glared at him for the rest of the way there.

"We're here" Will sang and pulled up to the front door. My nerves suddenly caught on fire. "Please go in there with me."

"Since when did you need me to do everything with you?" Will asked with a slight frown. "I don't."

"Okay then, go and take your swimming lesson like a big boy."

"Fuck you Will. I can do this without you" I said as I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. "Great, see you in an hour" he called before I shut the door. It didn't click in my mind that he tricked me until after he drove off. He had a way with words so he could get what he wanted. But I had no time to be mad at him. It was 5:00 and I didn't want to be too late.