Sonder: A Solangelo Story

Chapter 6

Being berated by a stranger was quite a unique experience that Nico never expected to encounter. In front of him was a woman who's appearance gave off an aura of intimidation and control. Her dark chestnut hair was perfectly curled, the black dress she was wearing had no noticeable wrinkle and her emerald eyes had an ambitious fire. Her name? Ms. Medusa, a woman who seemed to be able to kill with a single glare from behind her thick rimmed glasses.

Honestly? Nico was terrified of this woman, everything about her suggested she wasn't one to cross. Yet, he was sitting in her office for punching a kid because he mentioned something about a sibling dying. He sincerely regretted all of his decisions at the moment.

"Mr. Solace, why did you physically assault Mr.Valdez?" She asked, her tone sharp even with such a motherly sounding voice. How did he respond to that? He can't just say 'It was a joke' or the truth as she wouldn't believe either of them.

"I had fallen asleep in class and Leo was just trying to wake me. I awoke, startled by the dream with my sister, and he made that quip about her. I already watched her die in my sleep and so, I panicked and shoved him into a wall." He spoke, trying to sound as truthful as he could, which wasn't too difficult but a bit nerve-wracking.

Ms. Medusa leaned in towards Nico and for once, he truly understood the last name someone was given. Her gaze was terrifying to the point he felt as if he couldn't look away, his body didn't turn into stone but it felt like it was. After a minute of this awkward staring contest, she moved back to her desk and started to write on a piece of paper.

"I believe you Solace, just don't let it happen again. Especially since I'll have to ruin your perfect record with a suspension if I do. Please return to class and refrain from allowing another one of these incidents to occur." She stated, allowing Nico to stand and walk out into the room. Eventually, he got to the hallway and opened Will's phone, going to memos to type up the events from earlier. Will needed to know everything anyways, it his life.

~

"Uh, no thank you. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a girlfriend," He told the shorter female that had spoken to him, his expression softening when she looked about ready to cry. Well, It probably took a lot of effort to ask but, alas, he didn't want to get Nico into a relationship if he didn't need one. Welp, she had already run off in tears to her best friend and was now receiving death glares. Good Job, Solace. You've only talked to this girl for two minutes and you broke her heart. 

After a bit of trying to avoid the girl's best friend (man was she pissed), he eventually made outside to where Hazel and Frank were only to get raised brows when they saw him walk over. 

"Aren't you working today?" Frank asked. Wait, Nico had a job? And where was it? Shit.

"Umm......i don't remember where I work?" He said awkwardly while rubbing his arms, his gaze at the ground. He couldn't see their expressions but the gasps were enough to inform him that this was an unusual response.

"You work at the pet shelter, It's two blocks away from your home," Frank said, his voice filled with concern though Will still didn't see his expression.

"Okay, It shouldn't be too hard to find... I mean it is just a pet shop" He mumbled quietly and quickly walked off towards Nico's home. He had a job? At a pet store? Was it popular? Nico didn't seem like the kind of person to work.....with anything. After googling nearby pet shops on Nico's Phone, he found one nearby and  figured that's probably (hopefully) where he worked. Maybe he should go to his home and find the uniform first? That would probably be best.

~

Welp, being yelled at by a short female with auburn hair wasn't fun. In fact it was a bit terrifying, the greek foreign exchange student seemed ready to strangle him for his actions.

"Why?" She snapped, glaring at him intensely. Man was Calypso scary when she was pissed.

"Because, I wasn't fully aware of the situation occurring and had a horrific dream involving my sister that may have included death. So i reacted as though it might actually happen and I apologize" he was doing his best to fake Will's happy go lucky attitude and avoid seeming deranged as he didn't want Calypso to hate him. After a soft huff she just nodded before smacking the back of Leo's head.

"I told you not to wake him up like that, he's easy to upset! I made him cry once after doing that" she told the male, his curly hair bobbing a bit from the smack.

"Okay! Okay, I'll be careful when waking Will." He whined an looked at the blonde with a raised brow, making Nico shrug. Dude, he barely understands where he is why would he understand you girlfriend? Stop making assumptions man.

"Yeah, please don't. Ms. Medusa scares me the living crap out of me" he told him quickly in reply as they slowly nodded at his comments

"Yeah....Calypso almost slapped her, so I don't know if she's scared of her. But i wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Medusa was afraid of Calypso. She's a dick at times" he said with a laugh, earning another hit and causing Nico to snort a bit.

"You're the one who ends up there because of your fucking inventions."

"That's because nobody appreciates how fucking great I am" yep, a third smack. Why were they dating? What was she thinking? This kid was an idiot.

"I still don't understand your relationship if its mostly petty arguments" he said, tapping his chin.

"We argue because we love each other. Sometimes, people like to make it seem like their love life is perfect and that's the reason why it's destroyed. Little bickering allows us to get our stress with each other out, its nice," she said, making Nico blink at how wise she sounded compared to her age. "Sometimes, you find love in the most unexpected of ways."

~

Will was now cleaning out fish tanks, the sight of the mold making him wanna gag but he continued to clean up. He didn't want to be the reason that the male lost his job as he had already been late.

Finding the pet store was a bit harder than expected and he got lost a few times before arriving at the entrance. Once he was inside he saw the many reasons why Nico would most likely work there: fluffy things, cool fish and he best friend Reyna worked there so he had someone to talk to. Though being reprimanded for his tardiness by, Percy's best friend, Grover wasn't the best thing to experience.

"Why were you late? You know I'm having trouble explaining to the rest of the workers why you're on staff when you dislike everything, you coming in late makes it a million times worse." He spoke rapidly, making it almost impossible for Will to decipher what he is saying. Eventually, he just nodded in response.

"Yeah, I get it...I'll be on time, just...had a hard time," he whispered quietly before being assigned to wash out the fish tanks. Which is what he was doing now, washing out the last one before going back Grover with an eager expression on his face. "Anything else."

"Uhh....I guess if you're in a good mood you can run the cash register?" He said, seemingly confused by the optimistic and happy-go-lucky aura that Nico suddenly developed. Welp, it was sudden to Grover but something that Will always had. He headed towards the front, having a cashier job before and knowing he could operate it, and smiled widely at customers walking in. This would be easy!

"Bye Grover, see you tomorrow" It was 11:30 am when Will finally left, having used up all his energy on working. Man, that was fucking harder than it had looked. "Okay, okay.....tomorrow, will be a good day." He whispered, walking up the steps of the home. Eventually, he made it to Nico's room and carefully took off his shoes. His hands unbuttoning the uniform and grabbing some Pjs to put on. He crawled into the bed and pulled the covers up to his chest before falling asleep.